


Lost Gravity

by Draconic_Grace



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Angst and Porn, Degrading Language, Dom/sub, Dragoon Questline (Final Fantasy XIV), Dragoon Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Female Miqo'te (Final Fantasy XIV), Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Spoilers, Love Confessions, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Miqo'te Headcanon (Final Fantasy XIV), Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 2.0: A Realm Reborn Spoilers, Porn, Porn with Feelings, Romance, Shameless Smut, no beta we just die, the unfairly attractive emotionally repressed men of Final Fantasy XIV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:48:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24939310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconic_Grace/pseuds/Draconic_Grace
Summary: The Warrior of Light goes into heat. She asks her fellow Azure Dragoon to help her out.Falling into each other is as easy as Jumping into the sky. Falling in love is like freefall without the ability to land.The wish for love is a lost gravity that binds hearts back to earth, when they would deign instead to soar ever heavensward. If the lust of new lovers waters the rose of love, only in the soil of hope can that love dare to thrive.
Relationships: Warrior of Light/Estinien Wyrmblood
Comments: 13
Kudos: 67
Collections: Heat Wave





	1. Aphelion

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello! I needed a break from my longfic while I recover from a health issue, and I was feeling nostalgic about Heavensward in general and about Estinien in particular. This story is the result. 
> 
> Theme song for this fic is "Gravity" by Space Corps and Karra. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

_ If shooting stars could fall slowly _

_ Then I wouldn’t miss _

_ The chance to wish for you now _

_ When I look up above I see _

_ The blueprint of your face _

_ Your gravity  _

_ Is pulling me off the ground _

_ I won’t look down _

-”Gravity,” Space Corps, Karra

High above the stone columns in the Steel Vigil, the icy winds of the Coerthas Central Highlands rent the air in tendrils of frost. It was nearly noon, though only weak sunlight pierced the gloom of ever-present grey clouds roiling above. The snowy hills seemed to swallow all other noises; privately, the Warrior of Light thought the quiet of the icy landscape was more like a tomb than a countryside. Tetri sighed as she walked into the circular clearing, her long ears twitching, listening to her boots crunch against the nearly frozen stone beneath. 

Her patchwork armor creaked with her movements; the cuirass was a bit too big, and shuffled about on her torso, her iron spear clattering against her back. It was an unfortunate side effect of Tetri wanting to stay as cheap as she could with her armor replacements, in order to save the small amount of gil she had managed to make for herself and Alphinaud. Slaying horde dragons and other beasts for House Fortemps knights at Camp Dragonhead only made them so much, but as guests taking refuge under the Fortemps house of Ishgard, Tetri felt that the odd jobs were the least she could do for them at present. The Miqo’te had thus applied herself to the tasks without complaint, happy to busy herself from thinking about the Bloody Banquet and the loss of her friends, the Scions. 

The days had passed in a blur, and Tetri could hardly believe it had already been two months since she and Alphinaud had initially pleaded for refuge at Camp Dragonhead, which had been granted by Ser Haurchefaunt. Despite Alphinaud’s multiple requests to meet with an envoy from Ishgard proper, Ser Haurchefaunt had informed them it would take some time to arrange a meeting due to the continual encroachment of the Dravanian Horde, and so they were in a holding pattern at Camp Dragonhead, though a comfortable one for now. 

When he wasn’t speaking with the knights at Camp Dragonhead, to better understand Ishgardian culture in preparation for their eventual meeting, Alphinaud practiced his Arcanist summons and spellcraft. Tetri was proud of him, her heart swelling with pride at how fast Alphinaud was growing, both in skill and maturity. He was a worthy ally and a steadfast friend, for all his faults. The Warrior of Light knew he still blamed himself for the betrayal of the Crystal Braves, but she reminded him he was not to blame, as often as she could. She knew there was only so much she could do to reassure him, though; the acceptance of his past was the Elezen’s own choice to make. Tetri knew he would eventually find solace in his heart. Together, she knew they would get through this. They were still Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and they would do what they could to help Eorzea, even from the far snows of Ishgard! 

However, though their present holding pattern at Camp Dragonhead was comfortable, there remained some issues that Tetri could not ignore, ones that didn’t necessarily resolve themselves easily. 

Namely, her  _ heat. _

Tetri felt her cheeks blush in embarrassment at the thought, her face growing hot even amongst the icy chill of the clearing. Being outcasted by necessity from the Eorzean kingdoms, and stranded amongst the aloof citizenry of Ishgard, who had barely even seen Miqo’te, much less met one, Tetri had been unable to visit a Miqo’te apothecary to replenish her heat-blocking potions. Her last one had run out two weeks ago, and she had grimaced as she had drained the bottle in her small room in the camp, shivering a little from what it meant. Without potions to block her heat, Tetri knew the heat fever would be upon her in another fortnight, and it would be  _ intense. _ A heat fever that occurred directly after heat-blocking potions were stopped was amongst the strongest in recorded history for Miqo’te women. 

Tetri had a choice to make, then, one she made that very night: to sweat out her heat alone, trying to pleasure herself for release, something she had never really been able to do and honestly hated; or to ask for help, to ask for someone to be her heat partner, just for a few days. After this heat fever was over, Tetri thought her cycle should reset itself, from what she’d heard from various Miqo’te chiurgeons over the years, and she prayed they were right. 

Tetri had sighed to herself, running her hands through her close-cropped hair in frustration as she pondered her choices. She didn’t want to ride out such an intense heat by herself; and she also didn’t want to ask a stranger to be her heat partner, if she could help it. Alphinaud was out, of course; just the thought of him finding out what she was going to go through made Tetri shiver in discomfort. Best he not know. Which left two possibilities: Ser Haurchefaunt Greystone, on the one hand…

And Ser Estinien Wyrmblood on the other. 

Tetri bit her lip in frustration, her tail thrashing behind her as she arrived at the center of the stone circle. She was here because she had chosen the latter, after all. She had seen one or two women around Camp Dragonhead, but they were obviously Ishgardian soldiers or traders from Ishgard proper, and she barely had spoken to any of them, beyond the occasional goods exchange. Tetri hadn’t gotten the impression that they saw many Miqo’te, either, based on their curious looks at her when she had purchased their wares or asked them various questions. 

Meaning it was far from appropriate to proposition them as potential heat partners. She was a stranger, but that didn’t mean she was outright naive; she knew the cultural mores of Miqo’te didn’t apply to the vast majority of Elezen, even those Eorzean Elezen who were familiar with her kind. If there had been any Miqo’te in Camp Dragonhead, Tetri would have asked them to help her out as soon as she had downed her last heat-blocking potion. At that thought, she had even seriously considered breaking her no-male-Miqo’te streak, just to have a person with her who would have understood what she was going through, what she needed. 

But there were no other Miqo’te in Camp Dragonhead, and Eorzea was far away, off limits to her and too dangerous to even contemplate going back, what with the whole framed-for-murder debacle. So there she was, alone in Ishgard, about to have the most intense heat fever of her life, and without many choices. Tetri swallowed, her stomach twisting with nerves as she felt eyes on her,  _ his _ eyes on her, watching her in the clearing. She crossed her arms, long ears twitching, resisting the urge to draw the lance at her back. She knew that’s what he wanted, to feel like he was intimidating her. Well, she wouldn’t rise to the bait; it was embarrassing enough to have to reveal her heat to him, to potentially get turned down and slink away, back to her room in Camp with no dignity left. Tetri wanted to retain as much control as possible before she revealed her delicate state to her fellow Azure Dragoon.

It’s not that she  _ wasn’t _ attracted to Ser Haurchefaunt; she was. That was the problem. Tetri didn’t want to muddy the waters between Eorzea and Ishgard by becoming the kind knight’s lover, at least not yet. If it didn’t work out, for any reason, she would have burned their only bridge to be attended by an envoy of Ishgard proper, to say nothing of the rest of House Fortemps’ hospitality and generosity. For all they had done for Eorzea, Tetri knew that Ishgard owed her and Alphinaud nothing. It was a big deal, indeed, for Ser Haurchefaunt to put his reputation on the line, both as a knight and a member of House Fortemps, in order to accommodate them, even though both she and Alphinaud had been charged for (and were wanted for) murder back in Ul’dah. Tetri frowned as her mind spun with the politics of it all. She wasn’t cut out for the art of political alliances and negotiation, preferring the simplicity of the battlefield, content to leave all the rest to Alphinaud. The young Leveiller twin constantly impressed her with his ability to navigate the complexity of relations between kingdoms, something the Warrior of Light found baffling. Well, one surely couldn’t be good at  _ everything! _

So, in the interests of all involved, she had decided to throw in her lot with the Azure Dragoon: Ser Estinien Wyrmblood. Not that Tetri was all that optimistic at her chances of seducing the armored Elezen. Sure, she had defeated him in battle, had resisted the temptation of that mysterious dragon Eye he carried, had even earned her title as his fellow Azure Dragon, at least in level of skill, though she had not been granted the title by Ishgard directly. That hadn’t mattered in the slightest to Alberic, and Estinien had appeared to have also accepted it grudgingly--before disappearing, that is. Estinien had dismissed her, convincing her he would never grant her an audience again, but Tetri had sought out Alberic once more in the past few days as she felt her heat fever approaching, out of options as well as time. At her behest, Alberic had promised he would try to arrange a rendezvous with Estinien at the Stone Vigil. Two days later, there she was, prepared to take a chance she had never imagined herself taking, with someone who quite possibly despised her. 

_ I’ve faced worse odds, I suppose, _ thought Tetri, then groaned as a flash of heat flared up in her abdomen, making her damp core throb with an ache so intense it was painful. 

The Warrior of Light grimaced as her lower body contracted, a sign her heat was beginning, bending over and resting her hands on her knees in the middle of the clearing, as she brought her mind back to the present. She panted through the wave of uncomfortable sensation, her ears flattened against the sides of her head, watching her breath rise up unto the cold air. Tetri could feel her clothes sticking to her sweaty skin beneath her armor, could feel her body beginning to burn from within, her blood feeling like it was boiling, her core dripping with desire between her legs as the fever gradually overtook her. Combined with the dragon’s blood already roiling through her veins, Tetri felt herself strung thin, ready to unleash herself upon the slightest provocation, feeling ready to kill something--or fuck something. Both, actually, both would have been nice. Preferably the first before the second, but at this point she didn’t care.

Tetri sighed, straightening, feeling the nearby dragoon’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head from wherever he was presently hiding. She hoped he had been looking at her ass. 

“Where are you,  _ godsdamn _ you?!” she uttered in a shrill scream, echoing about the broken stone of the Vigil. 

She heard a tap of metal upon stone behind her, and turned just in time to see Estinien get up from his customary post-jump kneeling position. She crossed her arms, smiling slightly at the dragoon clad in dark blue armor before her, his wickedly pointed spear on his back. He, too, crossed his arms as he regarded her beneath his spiked helmet, utterly silent as he regarded her, but Tetri had anticipated that. She just hadn’t anticipated how to respond, exactly, if he had bothered to show up. Now here he was, and the Miqo’te found herself tongue-tied.

“Finally,” she said, trying to keep her tone light, but she couldn’t even convince herself with how tense and jumpy she suddenly was after coming face to face with her previous adversary (and, if the gods were kind, her potential lover). She felt her long tail lashing behind her in the air, a dead giveaway to how freaked out she was to other Miqo’te. Who knows, maybe Estinien could put two and two together as well. She felt his gaze roving over her, and felt her ears flatten against her head in anxiety.

“Why did you summon me, Warrior of Light?” asked Estinien tersely, as if furious with her sheer audacity to insist on meeting him. 

“Aw, did I need a reason to see my favorite Azure Dragoon?” she said with false cheer. “Well, besides myself, that is. It’s good to see you too, Ser Estinien.”

“I do not share your sentiments, Eorzean,” the Elezen grated out in reply. Tetri found herself huffing in laughter, rolling her eyes despite this frosty reception, not to mention the insistent ache between her legs. 

“I can see that, Tall, Blue and Grumpy,” she said. “Well, thanks for showing up, all the same. I’ll make this quick, for both our sakes.” 

She swallowed, feeling frozen under his gaze, fighting the sudden urge to jump away. 

_ Best just to be quick, get it over with, _ she thought. Tetri supposed she didn’t really need her dignity, anyway. 

“Ser Estinien…” she began, then growled in frustration, shaking her head as she began to lose all patience as the heat fever wracked her brain. 

“ _ Argh, _ sod this!” she cried, walking towards him, her armor clattering in the chill quiet of the clearing. 

“Damn all of your social rules,” she said, her voice shaking. “Damn these games you Ishgardians play with everyone’s heads, these games of formality, of  _ propriety! _ We Miqo’te don’t care about such things, not when it counts!”

She came to a stop just fulms away from him, watched as he tilted his head to the side like an overly curious chocobo. 

“What are you going on about, little dragoon?” he said, and Tetri could almost feel the smirk he was giving her as she bristled at the insulting pet name.

She sighed, her ears twitching in irritation, feeling her cheeks already erupting in a furious blush before she could even say the words to him. This was going to be humiliating, she could feel it. 

“I want you to be my lover, Estinien,” said Tetri with complete seriousness. 

The clearing was utterly silent. Tetri watched as the Azure Dragoon of Ishgard visibly startled at her words, uncrossing his arms and jolting backwards so fast it was almost comical. 

“Y--you--you what?!” he cried. “Are you completely  _ mad, _ Warrior of Light?!”

“No, Estinien, I’m not mad, actually,” she replied calmly. “I’m in  _ heat. _ ” 

There was another bout of tense silence, and Tetri heard the Elezen swallow underneath his armor. He was standing still, still obviously in shock. 

“Y-you--you’re...in…”

“Heat,” she finished the sentence for him in a low voice. “I know that on account of your being a native Ishgardian, you probably haven’t met many Miqo’te, let alone Miqo’te women, so you may not have even heard of it since it’s something that only affects us. Miqo’te women have their moon cycle every several months, instead of once monthly. The hormones build up in our bodies before causing our blood to overheat as a full-body fever. We just call it a ‘heat fever.’”

Tetri finally looked away from him, scuffing the ground with her boots, feeling her face flushed with embarrassment as she felt his gaze on her, but she pressed on.

“I was taking potions to prevent my heats, but I ran out. The heat fever, it’s...intense, moving through the body in waves,” she said. “I can’t speak for every Miqo’te woman, but for me--it causes me to crave... _ release. _ Intensely. I--I need it, my need is so great for the duration of this fever, that it actually hurts if I--if I don’t,” she finished lamely, but she could no longer speak of it. 

Being in front of Estinien, having told him about her condition, about a private Miqo’te matter, had her shaking with nerves. She was drenched in sweat beneath her armor, and her smalls were soaked with the slick of her own desire. She put her arms around her middle, no longer caring if she looked weak in front of the Azure Dragoon.

“...I see,” said Estinien after a long pause. “You put a great amount of trust in me just now, Warrior of Light, to tell me such. I can appreciate that, even if I don’t understand this particular struggle of your kind.” 

He crossed his arms again, watching her coolly. Tetri grimaced inwardly; with that damned helmet in the way she couldn’t even look at his eyes, let alone the rest of his face. She had no idea what the tall Elezen was thinking. 

“Tell me: Why, exactly, should I indulge your request--to become your lover, that is?” he asked. “How long does this heat fever last, anyway?”

“Ah, anywhere from--two to three days, usually,” she said, her body twinging as she spoke. “Sometimes more, sometimes less.”

She pressed her thighs together, trying to smother the insistent ache between them, and Tetri could have sworn she could feel the Elezen’s gaze there. Her core throbbed in response, seeking touch.  _ His _ touch. She fought the urge to beg him. The Miqo’te swallowed, daring to drop all pretense and give him a pleading look. 

“Well, Ser, I figured--we are acquainted enough for such activity, you and I,” she said, shrugging and giving him a weak smile. “I have no idea where you spend your days and nights, as of late, but you could do worse than have a tumble with a bed partner, for a few days. Safe, sane fun, we both get what we want, and after my fever breaks, we go our separate ways.” 

“Why not ask someone else?” he said. Estinien’s voice was gravelly and driving her insane. Tetri wanted to kiss him; she wanted to ride him into the ground. She wanted him to tell her what to do in that same gravelly, deep voice of his.

_ Damn, I really do have a thing for Elezens, _ she thought ruefully. 

“I don’t have anyone else to ask,” she replied. “Usually I’d ask another Miqo’te, we tend to help each other out with this sort of thing, but--Ishgard,” she said, waving her hand about in a circle to indicate the country in which she was currently a stranger. 

“Then why not--please yourself, on your own?” he asked, seeming to struggle to get the words out for a moment. Tetri shook her head.

“It’s not that easy,” she said. “I’ve never really been able to--to make myself get  _ there, _ like I can with a partner. I know some Miqo’te can do a heat solo without a problem, but I’ve never been like that. It’s much better and easier with someone else. Plus, it’s more fun.” 

She let out a deep breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. 

“So--there it is,” she said, shrugging again, uttering a small, self-conscious laugh. “That’s why I called you here to meet me. Of course, I would never expect you to agree to something you genuinely don’t want to do, and there’s no pressure. If you don’t want to, just let me know--”

Tetri startled as she was interrupted by Estinien erupting in peals of cruel laughter. The Miqo’te narrowed her eyes at him, feeling her ears and tail bristle, shocked and more than mildly insulted at his outburst.

“I’m not quite sure, out of what I’ve just told you, what you suddenly find so humorous,  _ Ser, _ ” she said, clenching her gauntleted hands into fists at her sides. “Care to share?”

Tetri hadn’t been expecting much--perhaps a simple “no” as an answer and a frustrated journey back to her room in Camp Dragonhead, to thus spend the next few days even more sexually frustrated on her own until her heat fever broke, but she had expected as much. She understood such an outcome. What the Warrior of Light could not understand, however, was the obvious meanness and cruel tone of her fellow Azure Dragoon’s laughter. 

_ This was a mistake, _ she thought, regret making her heart ache. The dragoon Miqo’te wasn’t as angry at Estinien as much as herself for not considering how his previous animosity towards her would have affected her request, though she now had anger enough to spare. 

_ I expected better of him, a fellow dragoon, a man of honor! _ she thought.  _ I thought he would have understood me! _

Perhaps she should have asked Ser Haurchefaunt to help her, after all; so much for protecting tentative alliances! This was turning out far worse than Tetri could have imagined.

Estinien finally stopped laughing, looking up again to level her with a stare she still couldn’t see, his eyes occluded by his helmet.

“So,  _ this _ is the fabled Hero of Eorzea,” he said with a sneer, looking her up and down, and she could feel his cold gaze roving her sweat-drenched body, even if his eyes weren’t visible beneath his pointed metal visor of his helmet. Tetri felt her blood run cold at his scornful regard, and the Miqo’te clenched her teeth in steadily building rage. 

“Offering herself to me like a common harlot,” said Estinien with a huff of disdain. “What a waste of power, of potential! How could the Eye possibly see anything worthy to respond in kind to the likes of  _ you! _ ”

She stared at him, blinking, then shook her head and just laughed at him, letting the slight roll off of her. Her purple ears twitched back and forth as she closed her eyes and clutched her midriff in her own mirth, her tail twisting behind her. The sound of her laughter, pure and clear, rang out like a clarion bell about the stone battleground, echoing off the snowy hills surrounding them. Estinien felt his eyes widen underneath his helmet, shocked at her reaction to his offensive words against her. Was this Miqo’te woman mad after all?!

Finally, Tetri straightened, wiping her eyes of tears, and narrowed her ruby eyes at him in thinly disguised anger, though she wore a small smile on her face, as if his hatred amused her.

“Oh, right,  _ Ser _ Estinien,” she says, using his title like an insult, “because I’m sure you have an entire  _ line _ of purebred Ishgardian women, with pillowy breasts and thick thighs, lined up to service their hallowed protector dragoon as soon as you leap back home. I’m sure not a  _ single _ one of your potential lovers will cringe in fear at the power of that Eye you possess, or your frankly creepy looking armor. Or perhaps it’s a line of purebred Ishgardian men? Or  _ both? _ Nothing wrong with having a preference, or none at all.  _ I _ certainly don’t.”

Estinien grit his teeth, panting harshly at the nerve of this Eorzean to say such words to his face, watching as she walked closer to him, still smiling, as if they were casually discussing the weather. Her boots clicked against the stone ground, her tail thrashing behind her, the weak sunlight above glinting on the metal spear resting on her back. 

“I’m sure this line of lovers simply  _ cannot _ wait to kiss their vaunted Azure Dragoon’s lips,” she said with a purr, coming to a stop mere ilms from him. 

“Unless…” she said, leaning into his space, until he could feel the heat of her breath against his face.

“Unless there  _ aren’t _ any,” she said, grinning at him, and he snarled at her. “Looks like if you want any action, sometime soon, you’re stuck with me, Ser Estinien.”

“Damn you, you Miqo’te  _ bitch! _ ” he roared, furious at being thrown so off-kilter by her suddenly cavalier attitude towards him, but Tetri simply looked at him, turning her head to the side like a curious bird.

“So, is that...a ‘no?’” she said softly, ignoring his outburst. 

“If it is, that’s fine,” she continued with a shrug. “Maybe that cute knight at Camp Dragonhead, Ser Haurchefant, would be amenable to helping me out instead…” 

Estinien crossed his arms again, which was a bit difficult due to the spines in his armor, but he did so anyway, snarling again under his breath. The nerve of this impudent dragoon, green behind her ridiculous purple ears…! Yet, the idea of that pathetic bastard knight of House Fortemps enjoying all of that tan skin, touching that tail and those furred ears,  _ instead _ of him, when the Warrior of Light had just offered herself to him freely--well, he could not abide such a thing. He was worth ten or twenty of ‘Ser’ Haurchefant, of that he was certain. 

“Fine,” he muttered, so softly he thought his words were swallowed by the snows around them, but he saw her ears twitch towards him.

“What was that, Ser?” she asked innocently, but her grin and the gleam in her eyes was feral.

“I said  _ fine, _ you damned imposter dragoon!” he replied. “I’ll take you up on your  _ generous _ offer, but know this: I’ll not yield to you in any fashion, Hero of Eorzea or no. You  _ will _ submit to me, and follow my commands.”

Tetri huffed out another laugh, mirroring his posture by crossing her arms. 

“I wouldn’t dream of asking you to yield to me, Ser Estinien,” she replied coolly. “I’m familiar enough with submission. Though I ask that we use a word to stop, a word of my choosing. I say it, and everything ends, and you stop what you’re doing at once. Those are my terms, take them or leave them.”

Estinien nodded and finally looked at her again, into those ruby eyes, the slitted pupils there unnerving him, captivating him despite his better judgment. Hatred and desire warred in his heart. Hatred that this purple-haired stranger, this Miqo’te Eorzean, would dare challenge him as his equal--and worse, that she had  _ defeated _ him, her skill truly equal to his, he who had taken up the lance since he was a youth! Tetri had beaten him, with her patchwork of mismatched armor and her plain-looking metal lance, both of which suggested nothing of the true depth of the Hero of Eorzea’s heart. She had resisted the temptation of power from the Eye of Nidhogg like it was child’s play, something he had never been able to do on his own.

How he hated her!

How he  _ wanted _ her! 

He wanted to  _ break _ her! 

“Tell me the word, then, Warrior of Light,” he commanded, “the word of your choosing.” 

Estinien kept his voice firm, in order to test her obedience, as well as her will to see this... _ dalliance _ of theirs through to completion. The idea of reaching his own completion, of reaching his peak inside her--regardless of where--had quickly stirred the Elezen to wanting, and his cock was now fully hard and leaking, trapped against his thigh beneath his smalls. It had been too long, too long between nights spent alone on the cold ground in his bedroll, with nothing but his hand, and the occasional unsatisfying night with an Ishgardian courtesan sworn to discretion--that is, when he was even able to get back to Ishgard proper whilst appropriately disguised. Estinien was certain he was going to savor the end of his current dry spell with the Warrior of Light, regardless of his feelings of intense dislike towards her. 

“The word is ‘Allagan,’” said Tetri in just as firm a voice, seemingly unintimidated by his own, giving him a level stare. He nodded stiffly in acknowledgement, impatient to free himself from his armor and clothing. 

“Just so,” he said, and reached down to loosen and unbuckle the belt above the faulds surrounding his hips. The apron-like skirt had been commissioned with the rest of his dragoon’s armor, especially forged for the advanced range of flexibility required by dragoons in their jumps through the skies. Estinien moved his hands over his armor quickly in a practiced manner, and soon he was able to yank the armor covering his hips--faulds, scaled leather armor, greaves and all--down to the ground, along with his smalls. The Elezen groaned, closing his eyes and arching his head back as he freed his hardness to the open air, giving himself a cautious stroke, careful not to catch the pointed metal of his gauntlets on his skin. He opened his eyes, watching Tetri staring at him stroking his erect cock with barely disguised hunger. Her face flushed an even deeper shade of red beneath her facial markings, and she licked her lower lip unconsciously, a flash of pink tongue that had him twitching in his palm. 

“Well, what do you think, Warrior of Light?” said Estinien in a smug voice. “Do you think I’m up to the task of easing the symptoms of your heat?”

“Uh--yeah. I mean, yes! Yes...definitely,” replied Tetri, blushing again at how tongue-tied she had become at the sight of his cock. Perhaps for an Elezen he was of average size and thickness, but despite the two tumbles she’d had with Elezen men at a younger age, Tetri didn’t consider herself experienced enough to say whether that was true. From what glimpses she had seen of the Miqo’te men of her birth tribe, however, as well the other races, he certainly appeared large, about seven or eight ilms long, and quite thick around the base. The Miqo’te woman watched Estinien stroke himself faster, the head of his cock flushed red and wet from the attention she was paying him. Her entire body ached with lust at the sight, and she pressed her thighs together again in a desperate, failed bid to smother the throbbing in her core. Her smalls were drenched with slick, her body covered in a sheen of sweat that would have had her shivering in the cold, were it not for the fever running through her veins, along with the blood of the dragon. 

“What do you want me to do?” she asked softly, and she felt, rather than saw, his smirk.

“Let’s see what you can do with that mouth of yours, little dragoon,” said Estinien in a gravelly purr, beckoning her towards him with his other hand. Tetri grinned at him, removing the lance from her back and placing it on the ground, followed by her gauntlets and gloves. Her bare hands now stinging in the cold air, she walked towards the tall Elezen until they were just ilms apart, and stood silently, waiting for him to command her. Tetri was mildly annoyed at how smug he was being, but she knew that was part of the scene of submission. She hoped he would be polite enough about it all, but even if he wasn’t, she could always say the word. Which, considering how difficult it had been to get Estinien to agree to help her, was something Tetri did  _ not _ want to do, not when she could feel herself teetering on the edge of the full effects of her heat fever. 

He nodded at her.

“Good,” he said. “Now, on your knees, little dragoon.”

She bent her knees onto the cold ground without a word of protest, struggling a bit in her armor, but her greaves absorbed most of the impact. She held her hands at her sides, unsure of whether he was willing to have her touch him. Tetri stared as he moved closer, until he was holding his hard length level with her mouth.

“Suck me,” he ordered, and she shivered at the sheer unequivocal demand in his voice. She stuck out her tongue and licked the head of his shaft without preamble, running the edge of her tongue along his tip and licking away a drop of his desire that had gathered there. She heard him hiss from the contact, and he rocked his hips towards her, pressing his cock against her lips insistently. Tetri opened her mouth and moved forward to close her lips around him, bobbing her head until she was halfway down his shaft, moaning around him as he groaned. 

“ _ Ah! _ \--yes, that’s it, Warrior of Light,” said Estinien with a gasp. “Good girl, keep going.”

He reached down to run a hand through her close-cropped hair as she worked him over, petting her gently, and Tetri hummed a moan around him, the Elezen’s words of praise increasing the ache of pleasure between her legs. Desperate for some sort of friction, Tetri fumbled a hand down between her legs, intending on giving herself some relief. Estinien saw the motion, and tapped her shoulder with his other hand. 

“Don’t you even think about touching yourself,” he said firmly, and she whined around him, but obeyed, taking her hand away. “You’ll get your pleasure after I’ve had mine.” 

The Warrior of Light whimpered around his cock, completely frustrated, and sucked him faster in a parody of revenge at his having denied her what she wanted.

“Slow down,” he said, understanding her actions well enough, smirking down at her. “If you continue to behave, I’ll see to it you reach your peak soon enough, but you have to be good. Don’t you want to be good for me, Warrior of Light?”

Tetri dared a look up at him, slowing her pace as she flatted her tongue against the underside of his cock. She mumbled an affirmative, and was rewarded as Estinien petted her behind her ears. The Miqo’te woman leaned into his touch, shuddering with pleasure as he stroked her sensitive ears. Estinien smiled in amusement beneath his helmet as he watched her long tail twist in the air behind her. He wondered if her tail would be as soft as her ears, and resolved to find the answer out for himself sooner rather than later. 

“You’re being so good for me, Warrior,” said the Azure Dragoon, moving his hands from her ears down to her cheeks. Tetri moaned around him as he continued to praise her, wiggling her hips in her rising desperation for release. Estinien rocked gently forward, pressing his cock deeper into her mouth, and she relaxed around him, finally feeling his length hit the back of her throat. 

“ _ Ah! _ Damn,  _ yes! _ ” said Estinien, arching his back and crying out in ecstasy as she took him in as deep as she could. Tetri bobbed her head faster, crying and struggling for breath as he began to fuck her face in earnest. Despite enjoying the fullness and musky taste of him in her mouth, she was furious at him denying her any sort of pleasure of her own. The Miqo’te woman fought a twinge of fear that he was going to leave her completely unsatisfied as the heat fever ravaged her body from within, driving her mad with lust. She twisted her hands on her lap as she continued to deep-throat the Elezen, groaning, and felt Estinien’s hands tense from where he had them resting against her face. 

“Oh,  _ oh gods _ \--I’m close,” he managed to grate out in a warning, and she nodded, moaning and sucking him harder. Estinien felt his whole body tense as he neared his peak, and then he was uttering a loud shout as he tumbled over the edge, spurting inside her mouth. Tetri swallowed every drop of his release, finally pulling her lips away and licking the last few drops of come from his now-softening cock. She gasped in a huge lungful of air as Estinien patted her head before pulling away from her, breathing hard as he recovered from his orgasm.

“By the Twelve, you’re incredible at that,” he said, regarding the Miqo’te before him with a new measure of grudging respect. The Elezen knew he should set his clothes and armor to rights, his now-limp member hanging out in the open air, but as his mind was swimming in a fog of pleased satisfaction, he couldn’t give an onze of a damn, content to simply stare at the woman on her knees in front of him. 

Estinien couldn’t remember the last time a lover had done that for him--that is, besides his memories of life in the knights’ barracks with one Aymeric de Borel, but that was a long time ago. It was practically ancient history, and despite that shared history, it wasn’t like he could proposition the Lord Commander so openly, not without threatening the man’s position. Estinien remembered their time as young lovers with fondness, but that was long before. Before he had taken up the lance as the Azure Dragoon; before the Eye of Nidhogg had called to him and seduced him with its power. 

Before he had met the Warrior of Light.

Tetri wiped her damp mouth and chin with a hand, looking up at him from resting on her knees, fixing him with an annoyed gaze. 

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Ser,” she said. “However, I believe I was good enough to be rewarded, just now, don’t you think…?” 

She schooled her features into a hopeful, pleading look, her ears twitching atop her head, waiting for his direction, and he huffed out a laugh, pleased with her obedience.

“Quite right, Warrior of Light,” he said, nodding at her. The Azure Dragoon motioned to her with a gauntleted hand. 

“Go ahead, touch yourself,” he said, crossing his arms again, content to watch her. “Let’s see how a Miqo’te in heat handles the lust of her own body.” 


	2. Perihelion

“Go ahead, touch yourself,” he said, crossing his arms again, content to watch her. “Let’s see how a Miqo’te in heat handles the lust of her own body.” 

Tetri stood at once, not willing to let him restrain her any further. She busied herself with unbuckling her cuirass, yanking the chestpiece over her head and tossing it to the ground beside her. The rest of her armor soon followed, each piece tossed just as carelessly onto the stone, until she was clad only in her thin blouse and leggings. The Miqo’te yanked those off, too, breathing a sigh of relief as she finally tore her smalls from her body as well. Ignoring Estinien’s stare, Tetri gave another sigh as she bared her body to the cold air, the icy chill a mercy on her heated skin. 

Estinien bit his lip as he surveyed the Warrior of Light’s nude body before him. Tetri was lean and lithe, the expanse of her tan skin dotted with various scars, remnants of her reputation as a slayer of Primals, voidsent and other monsters. Her breasts were firm, with pert nipples he longed to taste, along with her enticing cleft that he could see just beneath the thatch of purple curls between her thighs. He wanted to taste all of her, actually, to run his tongue across every ilm of her skin, until there was no place upon her body left untouched, no area lacking in his worship. Estinien didn’t particularly like the Miqo’te, but that didn’t mean he was immune to her own beauty, and he found himself captivated by her despite his desire to feel otherwise unaffected. 

No, he didn’t like her, though hatred was too strong a word, and not quite true. She was honorable, idealistic, somehow unbroken by the same challenges that had literally shattered his heart, leaving him weak to the influence of the Eye he carried. Tetri was the kind of warrior Estinien wished he was still, the kind of dragoon fueled by hope instead of rage and fear. The kind of dragoon their world needed; he could certainly see how she had amassed her following of admirers and comrades, though he did not want to be counted amongst their number. The Elezen frowned at the thought; the drums of war were beating steadily as the Dravanian Horde grew more reckless and daring in their attacks against Ishgard. War would be upon them soon, and he would be busy enough slaying Nidhogg’s brood (followed by Nidhogg himself, once he finally tracked down the wyrm). Estinien vowed to enjoy this time while he could; for all he knew, it might be the last time he could ever have a lover. 

Bringing his mind back into the present moment with some difficulty, Estinien watched as Tetri lay on her back on the stone ground before him, her legs splayed open wide, revealing glistening pink folds. The Elezen man shifted, his cock twitching in renewed interest at the sight of her arousal before him. He chanced a look up at her face and saw her watching him, her ruby eyes hooded with lust.

“Are you going to do anything for me?” she asked softly, her hands twitching on her upper thighs, as if holding herself back from her own further indulgence. Estinien let out a huff of amusement at her obvious but polite frustration; there was no reason he had to make this easy for her! 

“No, Warrior,” he said, still floating on his previous carnal satisfaction, smirking at her underneath his helmet, privately enjoying the angry glare she fixed him with. “Not right now, anyway. Frankly, I’d rather watch you languish in your heat-induced frustration. It’s fascinating to see the famed Warrior of Light brought low, and by naught but her own personal biology, no less.”

She glared at him once more for good measure, before shaking her head and rolling her eyes, as if his attitude could not be helped. She huffed out her own laugh, though it was one of exasperation.

“Alright then, fuck you, you damn bastard,” she grumbled, but smiled as he stared down at her, appreciating the weight of his gaze on her bare body. If he didn’t want to help her out right now, that was fine for the moment; Tetri enjoyed an audience, on occasion, when it suited her. She finally dragged her hands to her damp folds, inserting two fingers into herself, letting her mouth go slack as she finally gave herself some relief from the insistent ache of her heat. 

“Gods, yes,” she groaned as she felt herself tighten around her fingers. It wasn’t enough, but it was better than nothing, and together with being watched by Estinien looming over her, the tall Elezen half-naked and still clad in most of his intimidating armor, it was enough to take the edge off at least. She continued fingering herself faster, reaching up with her other hand to fondle her breasts. Tetri fought the urge to close her eyes, unwilling to drop her gaze from the Azure Dragoon’s, even if she still couldn’t see his eyes from underneath his helmet. 

“Do you like watching me like this, Ser Estinien?” she asked, panting. 

The Elezen shifted his weight above her, from side to side. 

“You...are pleasing enough to the eye, Warrior,” he said in his gravelly voice, keeping his voice level, but Tetri saw his cock twitch with interest even still. She smirked up at him, pleased she was affecting the Elezen.

“That’s good,” she said, “because you’ve forced my hand, Ser. My fingers aren’t enough, otherwise I never would have asked for your assistance, and since you’re hands off at the moment, I guess I’ll have to do something else. I haven’t done this in a long time, but you drove me to it. Lucky you, you get to watch!”

“And what is that, little dragoon?” he asked in the same level voice, but he leaned a bit closer to her, as if intrigued. Tetri smiled lazily, leaning back against the stone ground beneath her, and brought her purple tail up between her legs from where it had curled up by her side. Her tail was longer than that of most other Miqo’te, for whom this particular activity usually wasn’t an option. The Miqo’te woman took her hands away, replacing them with the tip of her tail, stroking the end of the appendage gently against her entrance before pressing inside.

Estinien felt his mouth drop open, breathing harsher at the erotic sight despite himself. Tetri arched her back against the ground, groaning as she pressed her own tail deeper inside herself, her face flushing with pleasure. Estinien continued watching, feeling a bolt of arousal move through him, his cock twitching at the lewd display before him. He was fascinated as he watched the Miqo’te ride her long prehensile limb, staring as the purple fur became drenched in her own slick. 

“Oh fuck, yes,” she sighed with her eyes open, giving him a hooded look of lust as he unabashedly stared down at her, his now half-hard member still hanging out in the open air. 

“See how wet you made me, Ser?” said Tetri in a sultry voice. 

“Sweet Halone, you’re an utter slut, Warrior of Light,” he said with a smirk, but he couldn’t help the bolt of pleased pride that moved through him at her words. 

He suddenly wanted to fuck her, he wanted to be the reason she walked sore the next day (or next several days), he wanted his name on her lips when she came. Estinien wanted to break her will, so that perhaps she wouldn’t come back to challenge him later. Yet, he also just wanted to feel her body around his, feeling weirdly possessive of the Miqo’te woman despite the fact that they had just met only months ago. Estinien swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as his heart began to race at the idea of claiming Tetri’s body. Beneath his desire, though, was something more, something that caused the Azure Dragoon to pause, to fight against its inexorable pull towards the woman before him. Somehow, deep down, he knew this nascent, tenuous connection between them was something more than sex, could be something more than rutting together on the cold ground. 

Estinien felt a twinge of hurt at the feeling, and resolutely pushed it down inside himself. He was surely just a means to an end, to Tetri; first, to best him in battle, to claim his own title for herself, and then, to satisfy her cravings during her heat. They could certainly understand each other, as fellow warriors and dragoons, as well as casual lovers, but as partners? 

_ Absolutely not _ , thought Estinien, berating himself for even having the thought, hating how his heart lurched in his chest as he felt that pull towards her again, a feeling he did not want to name. The Elezen tried to ignore his confusing emotions, focusing instead on the desire he felt for her that was steadily making him grow hard again, though not fast enough for his liking.

“Would you...take me, if I could fuck you, now?” he asked casually, though his heart pounded as he uttered the words aloud. 

He didn’t need her approval of who he was, didn’t want it, but he  _ did _ want her to want him with equal intensity. Estinien hated the idea of her going to some other Elezen for her pleasure. Their battles in the sky above during their first meetings, the clashing of their lances, and their...dalliance, before, if he could even call it that, gave him pause. It had distracted him from the Eye’s pull on his soul; it had made him feel alive, like  _ himself _ , for the first time in ages. It had been exhilarating to fight Tetri, and just as exhilarating to bury his cock down her throat as she moaned just for him. For  _ him _ ; she clearly had not been thinking of another, had been as deep in the moment as he. Estinien didn’t have to lie to himself about wanting the Warrior of Light. Whatever this was, he wanted it to end with his name on her lips as he buried himself inside her. 

Tetri slowed her pace as she looked up at him, panting. 

“I  _ would _ take you, yes,” she said in reply to his question. “I was hoping to, eventually, but I figured we would need to wait a bit, anyway.”

“It’s not necessary to wait, if you don’t want to,” he said with a mysterious air about him. Tetri narrowed her eyes at him.

“What are you on about?” she asked, and he huffed in laughter. 

“Little dragoon, I’m a bit disappointed in you!” he said, smiling down at her, placing a gauntleted hand flat on his bare abdomen, summoning his dragon’s blood to the area. 

“All that training,” he continued, “all that fighting, and you still don’t know all of the powers you possess with the blood of the dragon? For shame, Warrior of Light.” 

He paused, shifting his weight again as he looked down at the Miqo’te. She had stilled her movements, her tail still buried deep inside her folds as she looked up at him curiously.

“Do you want me now, Warrior of Light?” he asked. “I need a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

“ _ Yes, _ ” she replied breathlessly. “Seven Hells, yes, I do!”

Estinien let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding, and nodded, before pressing his hand harder against his abdomen. Effortlessly he called on the dragon’s blood simmering in his veins, feeling his own body heat up with the fire of his own dragon soul. His abs contracted, jolting as the Elezen flooded his body with a Second Wind of draconic aether, tendrils of blue flame rising from his skin for a few moments before dissipating, but the burn of magical invigoration remained. The spell wouldn’t heal the most severe injuries, but it did replace enough blood flow to heal minor wounds, as well as having the convenient side effect of steadily restoring his cock to full hardness. Soon enough, his length was throbbing against his stomach once more, and Estinien slowly knelt between Tetri’s thighs, careful to avoid her skin with his armor. 

Tetri stared up at the Elezen above her, shuddering as she realized she was moments away from having Estinien inside her. She had wanted him for a long time, since they first clashed lances in battle, if she was being completely honest with herself. She slowly slid her tail out of her sopping cleft, intending on moving it to the side, but startled as Estinien grabbed it in his hand.

“ _ Ah! _ \--Estinien…!” said Tetri, gasping harshly as the Elezen firmly held her tail before him, the damp fur bristled in shock. Miqo’te tails were quite sensitive, and Tetri was reeling from the feeling of another person’s hand there.

“E-Estinien,” she stammered, “it’s...considered  _ extremely _ rude to my kind, to grab someone’s tail without permission…” 

Estinien huffed. 

“My apologies, Warrior of Light,” he replied with a small nod. “It’s just that before we continue, I wanted to do  _ this. _ ”

Without another word, Estinien raised the tip of her tail to his lips, placing the appendage inside his mouth and sucking gently. 

“ _ Ahhh! _ Gods, Estinien!” she cried out, closing her eyes and arching her back as the feeling overwhelmed her. Estinien groaned as the dusky, salty-sweet taste of her filled his mouth; she tasted even better than he had imagined! He pulled her tail gently out of his mouth, licking the tip of her tail as clean as he could manage before finally letting go. 

“Just a taste,” he rasped, his voice low with longing, enjoying the shudders still wracking her body from his ministrations. He leaned over her body, placing his hands on either side of her head. Tetri finally gasped in a lungful of air, staring up at him.

“Next time, please ask before you do that,” she said. “Even if it did feel pretty damn brilliant.”

“Noted,” he replied with a smirk. “My apologies.”

“It’s fine,” she said; his ignorance wasn’t enough to destroy her desire for him. She wanted and needed the Elezen just as much as she did before. More, even, after having him watch her pleasure herself, and even  _ licking her tail _ …! Well, it was clear to her that Ishgard’s Azure Dragoon was nothing if not adventurous. Tetri planned on taking full advantage of his sense of adventure. 

“You’ll have to guide me,” he said above her, too eager to remove any more of his armor, and she nodded. 

She reached down, closing her small hand gently around him, pausing at his ensuing groan.

“Are you alright?” she asked, and he nodded down at her, rocking forward into her palm. 

“I need you,” he replied softly, sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable, and Tetri felt her heart skip a beat at his words.

“Okay,” she said just as softly, and raised her hips to meet him halfway until he was pressing insistently against her entrance. He rocked into her, slipping inside her only an ilm, and they both gasped at the sensation. Estinien looked down at her, waiting for direction.

“It’s...fine, you’re fine,” she gasped out, finding him large but not uncomfortable with how wet she already was. She fixed him with a stare of pure lust, her ruby eyes gleaming with greed for his body.

“More,” she said, her long ears twitching, rocking her hips up towards him, taking even more of his length inside her, and he moved gently forward until he was buried in her to the hilt. 

The two lovers paused, both of them breathing harshly as they got used to each other. Estinien leaned down towards her, his dark blue helmet somewhat intimidating with its imposing spikes and horns, but despite that, Tetri felt herself tense underneath them as he approached her. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, and didn’t know how to feel about it, despite their newfound physical intimacy. Estinien leaned past her face, though, tucking his mouth against her neck, and she shivered from the heat of his breath, finding the weight of his body against hers strangely comforting despite his personal animosity towards her. 

“Are you alright, Warrior?” he asked quietly, having felt her tense up around him earlier, and he dug the metal points of his gauntlets into the stone on either side of her head, overwhelmed by her tight heat, fighting the urge to fuck her senseless. 

“Y-yes,” she managed to reply in a stilted gasp, still reeling from the pleasure of his length finally filling her. Tetri closed her eyes as she felt her body trembling underneath his, the ache of the heat fever taking on a different, primeval tone as she took on the instinctual act for which the fever was an ancient imperative. Now, all she felt was hunger, an endless craving for more of the person intertwined with her. She moved her hips up experimentally against his, relishing the soft groan he uttered against her neck. 

“You can move now,” she said in a low voice, not bothering to hide her desire for him, and felt him nod against her neck as he shimmied his hips between hers, pulling nearly all the way out of her before thrusting back in once more. They both moaned, overwhelmed, trembling and sweating in the frosty Coerthas air. Tetri felt her body tighten around his, the ache in her abdomen turning white hot as he lit her up from within, every stroke pushing her towards her peak. 

“Gods, Estinien…!” said the Miqo’te, wanting to wrap her arms around him, but he was still clad in his cuirass and other armor, so she contented herself with stroking his bare abdomen instead. She savored the feeling of the taller Elezen’s muscles tensing under hers, all that expanse of heated skin, her fingers catching on various scars adorning his body.

_ Yet another thing we have in common, _ thought Tetri, musing yet again on the life of battle that she and her fellow Azure Dragoon shared. It may have been her imagination, but she thought he pressed himself further into her touch with every thrust inside of her, seeking more of her hands on him as he began to move with rhythm. The idea that Estinien wanted her as intensely as she was wanting him--that, despite his obvious dislike of her, he craved her just as much--made Tetri ache with a deep longing, made that fire inside of her red-hot, ready to snap. 

“E-Estinien, I--I’m a-almost...there…!” she managed to choke out, shuddering around him, her fingers tightening on his bare sides as he rocked into her. She jolted against him as the Elezen pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss on the juncture of her shoulder and her neck, the surprising sweetness of it making her heart quake with emotions she wasn’t quite ready for.

“ _Yes,_ ” he hissed out, which he soon followed by uttering a growl against her skin, his entire chest rumbling from the action, and the sound of it stirred her own dragon soul deep within her mind, the entity rising at the call of a potential mate. On every level, the Warrior of Light felt herself unmoored, her body trembling, wet and wanting as her mind was pulled out to orbit at the delight inflaming every fiber of her being. The delight of being under Estinien, of claiming him, of _being_ _claimed_ by him! She opened her mouth to moan, and jolted again as she emitted an answering growl of her own, the deeper draconian instincts of her soulstone rising to the fore as the two dragoons rocked together. 

Estinien pushed himself up to hover above her in one fluid moment, peering down at her, panting as he moved his hips into hers with increased urgency. 

“Yes, that’s right, little dragoon,” he rasped, “come for me, let me see you!”

He reached down and grasped one of her legs, draping it over his shoulder as he increased his speed, pistoning inside her rapidly, his lower abdomen pummeling her clit into submission with every stroke. The Elezen felt her long tail brush the back of his neck as it draped over his shoulder, twisting with the impact of his body into hers.

_ “Ahhh! _ Oh, Estinien, f-fuck!” she cried out, scrabbling for purchase on the ground beneath as he slammed into her dripping core over and over. He huffed out a laugh, pleased at the Miqo’te woman’s gasps and cries as he watched her steadily unraveling beneath him. 

“That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it, Warrior?” he said in an amused voice, his chest rumbling with another growl. The part of his soul claimed by Nidhogg reveled in the enticing scent of her body from where they were joined, as well as the iron tang of her blood running hot beneath her flushed skin. Estinien fought the urge to lean down and bite at where Tetri’s neck and shoulder met, to taste her blood on his tongue as he made her scream for him. He shook with the effort to restrain the monstrous urges of his dragon soul, fighting the ages-long sense of shame such instincts brought in him. 

_ I’m a monster, _ he thought, groaning audibly as he felt her tight heat strangle his cock.  _ I’m a monster, but she wants me anyway! Surely she knows what I am, she has the blood of the dragon as well! _

Estinien panted, thrusting into her with renewed vigor. He had heard her answering growl, felt the pull of her aether as her dragon soul rose to the forefront of her mind, its instinct awakened by Estinien’s call. 

_ It had to have been her, _ he thought with the kind of wonder born of passion.  _ Who else could handle my instincts, who else would dare accept them?! _ Not another Ishgardian, that was for certain. In his infrequent dalliances with courtesans back home, he had to get near blackout drunk in order to contain the wayward instincts of his dragon soul, fearing he would injure his partners if he suddenly wanted to claim them. The Warrior of Light, however, being a dragoon herself, had no such weaknesses; if he bit her, she would heal, another boon of those who claimed--and were claimed in turn by--the blood of the dragon. 

Estinien stared down at Tetri, watching her stare back at him, with her ears flat against her head, her short hair askew, her mouth slack with pleasure, her eyes glazed over with desire, groaning his name like a litany. The Elezen’s heart ached at the sight, and he barely was able to hold back the urge to claim her lips with his, his face still concealed by the heavy weight of his helmet. 

“Need to see you come,” he said in between a groan and a sigh, his chest heaving as he fucked into her without slowing his pace an onze. “C’mon, let go for me!”

Tetri couldn’t stop the shiver that rocked her entire body at his words, her entire being still attuned to his command, wanting to please him as if he had cast a silent spell on her. The white-hot coil in her belly twisted, and she felt herself tighten around his length as she rapidly neared her peak. She shuddered and gasped for breath, feeling pleasure spread through her body like a tide of flame. 

“E-Es-ti-nien…!” she managed to stutter out his name, then the Miqo’te tumbled over the edge, uttering a wild scream that echoed through the snowy hills and woods beyond. Estinien snarled in satisfaction, reveling in his lover climaxing beneath him, steadily slowing the pace of his hips as she moaned and shivered. Since reaching his peak inside her mouth earlier, Estinien didn’t feel the need to come again so soon; he wanted to drag this moment out, staying united with the Warrior of Light as long as possible. The Elezen felt the blood of the dragon racing through his veins in a rush of aetheric vigor, and he wanted to see how many times he could make her say his name as she came around him. 

Eventually, Tetri sighed and relaxed beneath him, breathing hard, and he slowed his hips to a stop, gently setting her leg down from his shoulder and leaning over her. He took a moment to observe her; the Miqo’te seemed none the worse from her release. Far from it, even, as he noted that the heated flush that had been covering her face and neck had cleared a bit, though her cheeks still wore a cherry-red blush beneath her facial markings. Estinien dragged a hand up, tracing one of the triangular markings on her cheek gently with a fingertip, careful not to catch her with the edge of his gauntlet. 

“You alright?” he said gruffly, not quite recovered from their ravenous lovemaking. Tetri finally opened her eyes, looking up at him, and the bright ruby of them--like sunset, twilight, and the most brilliant of crimson jewels, all rolled into one--shocked him into further silence. He stared down at her dumbly, and she smiled, just a gentle quirk of her lips, a sated smile of genuine gratification. Tetri stretched beneath him, her arms arched over her head on the ground. 

“More than alright,” she said, “I’m amazing--I feel  _ amazing, _ right now! You’re amazing, too,” she added, her ears twitching, and she flushed, as if embarrassed she had included her praise of him as an afterthought, but he felt himself smiling in reply all the same. 

“I’m glad,” he replied, moving his hips back gently to finally separate them, not missing her wince beneath him. 

“Sorry,” he said, feeling a pang of guilt despite himself as he sat up on his haunches between her legs.

“No, it’s alright,” she replied, sitting up slightly. 

“Did I...hurt you, at all?” he asked. Estinien looked down at her, moving his gaze over her body for any sort of injury. 

“The size difference between us…” he added, but Tetri smiled at him and shook her head.

“I appreciate your concern, Ser, but all I feel is pleasantly sore, and none the worse for wear otherwise,” she replied. “You’re not the first Elezen I’ve been with, and our size difference is not lost on me, either. Besides, it sure beats fighting Primals, monsters or dragons. A lot more pleasant than my usual method of exercise.”

Estinien laughed at that, a low, gravelly laugh similar to his voice, and despite her recent peak Tetri felt a bolt of arousal run through her body at the sound, looking up at the Elezen’s bare torso, admiring his muscular abdomen covered in scars, still covered in a thin sheet of sweat from their earlier carnal activity. 

_ I might become addicted to him, _ she thought, then swiftly pushed down the thought as best she could. 

_ This is just the heat fever talking, Tetri,  _ she told herself.  _ Don’t be that Miqo’te that falls in love with her heat partner. This isn’t your first heat, and you’re an adult! Don’t become attached, don’t start thinking it’s more than what it is! It’s just sex!  _

Gods, who was she kidding? It wasn’t just sex, it wasn’t just the heat fever, though she knew heat bonding did occur sometimes between strangers. That was the entire point of a heat, besides the deeper biological imperative of mating and children, to have two individuals bond as a pair (or, in the case of a Nuhn and his harem wives, to bond as a tribal family). This wasn’t a heat bonding though, nor was it just casual sex like she had thought it would be. Tetri knew she had been drawn to the Azure Dragoon since the moment they met, since the moment they clashed their lances together in battle. 

Try as she might, she could no longer deny it: Estinien had been on her mind ever since she had gulped down the last drops of her remaining heat blocking potion. She had wanted to feel his body over hers, inside her, for months. The heat had just become a catalyst for her to indulge her attraction to him, her desire for him pulling her in like a force of nature she couldn’t hope to ever resist. To want this mysterious, dangerous Elezen warrior, her fellow Azure Dragoon, who had a duty just as dangerous as hers, and who didn’t even particularly like her, was a folly of the heart to the highest order, but Tetri couldn’t bring herself to stop, and didn’t much care either at this point. She wanted him all the more just for considering resisting her feelings towards him, as confusing as they were.

For his part, Estinien felt himself blushing beneath his helmet at Tetri’s intense scrutiny, as she regarded him from where she was sprawled, still naked and sweaty, on the ground beneath him. Her persistent stare, those ruby eyes with their slitted pupils, seared his bare body like a brand, and he bit back a moan as his cock twitched insistently against his stomach, still hard and aching. Estinien didn’t touch himself, resisting the urge to do so. He wanted her, again, but he wasn’t sure where she was in this whole heat business she had described, or if she even wanted another round. Sure, she said she was fine after their earlier lovemaking (he hesitated to call it mere sex, knowing it hadn’t felt like that to him now, and he liked to think he knew the difference at this point in his life) but he hadn’t been with any of the smaller races before, and he was wary of possibly injuring her, no matter that she was a warrior in fighting shape. 

He swallowed, clearing his throat. 

“Ah...so, is that--is that it, then? Your heat?” he asked, expecting her to indulge his ignorance with her kind’s biology. “I noticed your flush had receded, slightly, but I wasn’t sure…” 

Tetri blinked, jolting out of her fugue state, and laughed softly. 

“Uh, no, not even close,” she said, ears twitching as she grinned at him. “That was one wave of the heat fever, it lasts far longer than that, I’m afraid! Like I said, a heat fever lasts two to three days. After a round, the fever dies down a bit, but it will come back with a vengeance soon enough.”

“How soon?” he asked, and his cock twitched again. She looked down at him, and he took a shaky breath as she glimpsed her fill of him before meeting his gaze once more. 

“Half a bell, perhaps,” she said, “a full bell at the latest.”

Her long tail twitched in the air on her side, and Estinien watched it twirl in the air, tamping down the sudden urge to once again grab the appendage and place it in his mouth, wanting to hear that strangled moan of hers again, to hear her cry out his name in a mixture of surprise and desire. All his fantasizing of the Warrior of Light that he had done beside his lonely campfire, imagining her crying out his name in the months since he had fought her for the first time, none of that compared to the ecstasy of her body intertwined with his. The Elezen sucked in another breath. 

“Well then,” he began. “Do you still want--”

“If you’re wondering if I still want you to share the rest of my heat, Ser, the answer is yes,” said Tetri with a smug smile. “I’m assuming, at least based on your body’s current state, that you’re interested in that as well, but please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Is that what you wish as well?”

Estinien took a moment to regard the Miqo’te before replying. 

“It  _ is  _ my wish--to have you again, that is,” he said, “and to share pleasure with you, in the way you wish, as well. I understand that this is your heat, so--please let me know if there is something you--you wish me to do, for you.” 

He felt his cheeks flush again, suddenly embarrassed at his tongue-tied demeanor, as if he were a green boy amidst his first tumble with a partner, but she nodded. 

“I appreciate your...flexibility, Ser, in more ways than one,” she said, waggling her eyebrows at him, and he gave an undignified snort of laughter, which made her laugh as well. The Elezen’s laughter made Tetri feel warm all over, despite the chill of the snowy hills around them. Estinien watched her ears twitch before she spoke again.

“Let’s see what your mouth can do, then, Azure Dragoon, as you couldn’t help but take a taste before,” said Tetri with that smug grin, and lay back flat onto the ground before him, spreading her legs so that her pink folds were on full display for him. He huffed out a laugh.

“It will be no chore for me to taste you further, Warrior of Light,” he said, and Tetri thought his voice dropped even lower as he uttered those words, making her shiver with want. She watched as Estinien moved back and bent his head down between her legs, kissing a path down the tender skin of her thighs, his lips just able to graze her underneath the curved visor of his helmet. He rumbled out a moan as the Miqo’te’s shivering increased with every heated touch of his lips upon her. He nipped at her thighs as he neared her center, unable to resist teasing her, gentle bites that had her writhing on the ground, gasping. Estinien paused to chuckle as Tetri thrust her slick sex towards his mouth insistently. 

“Get on with it,” she said, snarling under her breath, the heat fever rising in her blood once more, making her burn with desire. 

“As you wish, Warrior of Light,” said Estinien, and moved forward, licking a hot stripe up her soaked folds, groaning as her taste flooded his mouth, relishing her ensuing gasp at the contact. He reached up to gently grasp her thighs with his hands to hold her still, flattening his tongue against her as he closed his lips around the entirety of her center and sucked at her flesh. 

“ _ Ah! _ Oh,  _ oh gods _ …!” said Tetri in a strangled moan, her fingers scrabbling at the hard stone beneath her as Estinien mouthed her, running his tongue along her folds before swiping against her clit, wringing another cry from her. The Elezen was so much larger than her, he easily fit the whole of her in his mouth, and the heat of him against her was overwhelming. She reached down to grasp the horns of his helmet, yanking him against her as she angled herself up into his mouth, greedy for more of him. Tetri needed Estinien, yearned for him with a heat-addled greed bordering on madness. 

“Gods, Estinien,  _ yes, _ ” she cried. “Don’t stop, don’t ever stop…!”

Estinien growled at the Miqo’te’s plea as he lapped and sucked at her, his chest rumbling as he released her to lick his lips, wet with her juices. He growled again low in his throat, savoring the salty-sweet taste of her lingering on his tongue. 

“I don’t want to stop,” he replied, stroking her thighs lightly with his gauntleted hands. It turned out that Tetri wasn’t the only one greedy for more; Estinien already wanted more of the Miqo’te, wanted to lick at her center between her legs until she screamed for him again, until her essence was running down his chin. He chanced a look up at her face, and the unabashed lust he saw in her eyes, hooded with longing, almost made Estinien rear up to take her again right then and there. She smiled at him, the same small smile of satisfaction she had given him after she had reached her peak, and the Elezen felt his neglected cock twitch at the sight.

“Go on, then, Ser,” she said with a hint of smugness, satisfied she was going to get what she wanted from him. “Have your fill of me!”

Estinien growled at her, his dragon soul writhing deep in his mind, wanting to claim its mate.

“Oh, I will, Warrior of Light,” he said, smiling up at her, and his words rang with a promise of continued carnal delight that made them both shiver with wanting. He ran his fingers along her thighs, tickling her, and she bit back a gasp. 

“I am going to savor you with my mouth,” he said, leaning closer until he was panting against the lips of her sex. 

“And then,” he said, “after you’ve screamed my name, I was going to make sure you have  _ your _ fill of  _ me, _ once more.”

“Is that so?” replied the Miqo’te breathlessly, feeling herself teetering on the edge already, the heat fever making every nerve tingle in response to Estinien’s breath in between her legs.

“It is, if you wish it,” he replied, his voice several octaves lower with his lust for her.

“I wish nothing else, at this moment,” she replied with frank honesty. It was true; every fiber of her being cried out for the Elezen between her legs. Tetri wanted Estinien in every way he was willing to share himself with her. Deep down, she was pleased that her fellow Azure Dragoon appeared to have the same level of longing as she. It was too much to expect anything more, perhaps, but Tetri would take whatever part of himself he offered her. So far, she was having the best heat of her life, and she had no desire to slow down now. 

“Good,” he said, and she felt, rather than saw, him smile beneath his helmet. “Then hang on to me, little dragoon, because now I’ll send you through the skies!” 

Estinien lunged forward, then, stroking her folds with the tip of his tongue before burying his face in her slick heat. He lapped and sucked at her like a man possessed, his face soon drenched with her juices, and he felt her thighs tighten around the sides of his head as she writhed and moaned against him. He felt the tip of her furred tail stroke down the back of his neck and shoulders, feeling its softness brush against his neck in between a gap in his armor, and he thrust his hips into the ground beneath him instinctually, wanting to bury himself inside her. He nudged her folds with his nose, feeling her body twitch, and then he plunged his tongue inside her, as deep as he could, thrusting his hips in time with his tongue, giving her a preview of what he wanted to do to her next. 

“Oh,  _ oh fuck yes _ ,” said Tetri in a wanton gasp as Estinien rapidly fucked her with his tongue. The clearing was soon filled with her gasps and sighs, his muffled groans between her legs vibrating against her tender flesh. The Miqo’te rocked her hips up into his mouth, her hands clutching at his helmet, clinging for dear life as Estinien took her higher and higher with his talented tongue. Estinien felt her thighs tighten around the sides of his head, felt the Warrior of Light tremble as she neared her peak. He growled against her soaked cleft, clutching her thighs in his gauntleted hands to hold her still as he redoubled his efforts to make her climax. He continued thrusting his tongue deep inside her, savoring the way she cried out his name frantically as she creeped towards the edge of her pleasure, recognizing it as one of her apparent tells, if their previous lovemaking was any indication. 

“ _ Ahhh! Estinien, _ gods…!” said the Warrior of Light, trembling, and then her thighs tightened like a vice about his head as she uttered a piercing cry into the air, reaching her peak at last. Estinien groaned as his mouth was flooded with her juices, lapping at her center one more time before slowly pulling away. He leaned up on his hands and knees to examine his handiwork, grinning as he was treated to the sight of the Miqo’te flushed and shaking on the ground, her mouth open as she gasped great heaving breaths. Tetri groaned and put an arm over her eyes, her tail flopping weakly against the ground as she recovered from her orgasm.

“By the Twelve,” she said. “You’re damned good at that, Ser!” 

Estinien huffed out a laugh, wiping his damp chin halfheartedly in the crook of his arm, though he truly did not mind the taste of her on him. 

“I’m glad you think so,” he replied wryly. “It would surely be beneath my station, as well as simply plain rude, to neglect to share with you the same pleasure you so generously offered me earlier.” 

She snorted in response beneath the arm still over her eyes.

“Offered and delivered, in full, I will add,” she replied. 

“Just so,” he said, unable to keep from smiling beneath his helmet. 

As soon as the thought occurred to him, he reached up and loosened the gauntlets on his hands, tossing them to the side before summarily removing the vambraces, until his hands and arms were blissfully bare. He kicked the rest of his remaining armor kit off his legs where it had amassed beneath him in his earlier haste to claim Tetri’s body. Finally he was bare aside from his helmet, though he stubbornly clung to the desire to hide his face beneath it, from the Warrior of Light as well as all others. It was an inherited habit, for the shame of the Eye he carried was a deep one, a shared shame the Azure Dragoons of Ishgard in ages past deigned to suffer in silence, in order to spare their kinsmen the sight. 

His painstaking armor removal complete, Estinien looked up to see Tetri looking at him, taking in his lack of armor, observing him looking at her from beneath the helmet he still wore. If it bothered her, she was content to stay silent in her regard of him. She raised an eyebrow at him, meeting his gaze, and boldly stretched out her foot to run the tip of her toes down his chest. Tetri grinned at Estinien’s ensuing growl at her touch, and she lowered her foot back to the ground.

“I believe you said you would ensure I have my fill of you, next, Ser,” she said playfully. 

“That I did,” he replied, his voice deepening as he allowed himself to feel his neglected desire in full. He stroked his throbbing cock, not looking away from Tetri’s face for even a moment. 

“And how do you fare in your heat, Warrior?” he asked, even as the Elezen rocked up into his bare palm, biting his lip to keep from groaning in anticipation of being inside her once more. 

“Do you still have need of me?” he said, and crowed silently in triumph at her ensuing shiver. 

“Truly, Estinien, I do,” she replied, her voice also low with want, “and I cannot fathom a moment in these next few days, and possibly after, when I will not feel the need for you. Now, though, my heat fever burns me even still, despite the valiant adorations of your mouth.”

Estinien felt his mouth go dry at her words, at the hidden confession in them bared in plain sight, a bolt of pure lust and something softer, deeper, a longing more than physical, moving through him, making him tremble. 

“If--if I may, then, Warrior of Light,” he said, “and if you wish it, I would repeat my efforts to slake the thirst of your heat’s storm of desire, this time with my body.” 

He reached out a hand, stroking her knee gently with his long fingers, watching her face in an unspoken question. Finally, Tetri nodded, her ears twitching against her hair, smiling up at him, and reached out her hand. 

“I do wish it,” she said. “I want you again. Give me my fill of you, as you promised, Azure Dragoon.” 

Estinien nodded and took her hand in his, much smaller but clutching his fingers with a fierce, wiry strength that was the gift of all dragoons. The Miqo’te easily pulled him forward until he was kneeling between her parted legs. He took a shaky breath, and she did likewise, arching her hips up to meet him halfway as he stroked himself against her folds, though he did not lunge forward. Tetri looked up at him, an unspoken question in her eyes as she observed him seemingly hesitating. Estinien swallowed.

“Are you alright?” she asked quietly, and the Elezen nodded above her, having become suddenly overwhelmed by the intimacy of what they were doing. Though having become a loner for the past few years, when the Eye of Nidhogg’s pull on his soul had become too much to bear for the polite company of Ishgard’s denizens, Estinien was no stranger to sex without strings attached. He had accepted that the Twelve had need of him as the Eye’s protector, and who better to control the Dravanians’ slow and steady encroachment upon his kingdom than the Azure Dragoon? He had thus accepted such a plight as his solemn duty, acknowledging there would surely be no room for love in such a life of battle, let alone his heart, tainted as it was by the Eye and his unholy, draconic urges the artifact inspired. 

The sudden ache in his heart, then, perched above the Warrior of Light’s smaller body, had sent Estinien reeling. He had not expected such a yearning for her to arise in him after their earlier coupling; he had been prepared to satisfy her heat, with himself along with her, and then to part ways as a matter of course, as they had agreed upon Tetri’s initial suggestion. However, now that he was drawn closely against her warm body once more, Estinien bit his lip as he looked down at her, realizing that the prospect of being alone again--after this time with his fellow dragoon was over--was the last thing he wanted. To attempt to explain any inkling of the convoluted desires roiling about in his heart and mind was unthinkable to Estinien, not the least because he had no idea how to make it sound like less than pure insanity.

_ No, I’m not alright, Tetri, _ he thought.  _ I’m falling for you, and I hate you for it! _

He still didn’t want to say her name aloud, lest his nascent feelings for the Miqo’te sink their invisible claws even deeper into his heart. He felt it the last recourse against completely losing himself to her pull, and so he valiantly clung only to her title on his lips, when all he wanted to do was cry out her name. 

Estinien took advantage of his now bare hands, leaning forward and stroking a single finger down Tetri’s cheek before dragging it down her neck, beneath her collarbone and in between her breasts, watching her shiver and chase his touch as she arched upwards into his hand. The Elezen placed his palm flat against the spot, his large hand nearly covering the entire span of her torso, feeling her heart race beneath his fingertips.

“Is this for me, Warrior?” he asked, and he wasn’t sure why he even bothered, but the Miqo’te’s ensuing sharp intake of breath at his words was reward enough for him. 

_ Serves her right, for doing this to me! _ he thought petulantly, at once ashamed at the thought, but unable to take it back. 

“It is,” said Tetri, “and so is this!” 

She rocked up into him again, wrapping her legs around his hips and drawing him forward, and he snarled, reaching down to stroke his aching length against her, nudging his hips into hers insistently, and then Estinien felt all the breath leave his body in a gasp as she took him inside her once more. He fell over her, bracing his hands on either side of her head, the heat of her body scalding him from within. The Miqo’te and Elezen both groaned, and Tetri sighed as she dragged her hands up over his chest, stroking his scars with a gentle touch bordering on reverence. Estinien hissed as her fingers left trails of fire in their wake, as hot as the breath of any dragon, and he began to rock into her, beginning to lead them both in that most ancient of dances. 

“ _ Ah! _ Oh, Warrior of Light,” he moaned as he rocked into her sweet depths. 

I-- _ oh! _ \--I...have...a  _ name _ , Ser,” she managed to gasp out as they writhed together on the stone ground. “You could try using it, seeing as-- _ ah! _ \--we're getting so well acquainted...!”

“Mmmm,  _ Tetri, _ then,” he said, then hissed as he felt her tighten around him immediately. He looked down at her, his vision slightly skewed from the beaked visor of his helmet, and grinned at the Miqo'te's ensuing full-body blush at his use of her name. Estinien surrendered to his previous desire to call her name, vowing to use it as often as he could, especially since it seemed to be driving her to new heights of passion. 

“Ah, I see you like that, little dragoon,” he said, thrusting into her harder, enjoying her ensuing squeal of delight. Tetri panted and arched against his front, unable to bite back another moan as her nipples brushed against his chest, the pleasurable sensation sending her heated body into overdrive. 

“Yes,” she managed to gasp out. “I love how you say my name!” 

Estinien felt himself grin beneath his helmet, unable to help it as he felt her surrender completely to him, her body warm and wet around his length as he pounded into her with abandon. He could not resist the desire to tease her further, though he knew his cruel words were crude, unbecoming of an honorable warrior, let alone a caring lover. Still, he knew she could put him in his place, if he summarily deserved it, and some part of him wanted Tetri to challenge him with her words, to punish him for his verbal insolence. 

“What a perfect little  _ slut _ you are, Tetri!” he said, panting, licking a stripe up her neck. “Who knew the famed Warrior of Light was such a  _ tart, _ spreading her legs so eagerly for a stranger?”

Tetri managed to huff out a laugh at his slights against her. 

“Does that make it easier for you, Estinien?” she asked, panting and raising an eyebrow at him as they continued rocking into each other, amusement whirling in her ruby eyes. “Does insulting me help you deal with the fact that you actually  _ like _ fucking me right now? That you like fucking someone you  _ hate _ ?” 

He glared at her, slowing the moment of his hips until she whined wordlessly, arching her hips back into his, but he refused to indulge her. 

“You can analyze me all you want,” he growled out, unable to keep the defensiveness out of his voice, and they both recognized it. “You can try and pick apart my mind, you can try to justify it any way you wish. But you're still a damned  _ harlot, _ Warrior of Light. You're nothing more to me than a glorified grifter, barely worthy of your titles or fame! I've done more for the world than you, for zero accolades and acclaim!” 

“I don't give a  _ damn _ about acclaim!” said Tetri, baring her teeth in anger, ears back against the sides of her head, leaning upwards on her arms, hissing as the cold permeated her heated skin. 

“I don't want accolades,” she continued. “I don't even care about being thanked. It's my _ duty _ , Estinien, something I thought you understood! Besides, I didn't throw myself at you, I asked a favor! It's  _ heat, _ it's biology. If there was someone else, I would have asked them. Gods, you're just like all the rest! I can't believe I thought you'd be different!”

She looked away, scowling.

“My mistake,” she said, then looked back at him. 

“Still,” she said, raising an eyebrow, “I can't deny that you're incredible in the sack, so let's continue, shall we? I don't want to finish this heat solo, if you're still game.”

He stared down at her, holding still against her, and watched as her ears fell back against her head.

“Estinien...we can stop, if you want, alright?” she asked. 

Even though her body was still flushed red with the heat fever, still dripping with sweat, her cleft tight and wet around him, the fact that she still asked him did something to Estinien. Her acceptance of his verbal barbs against her, of his lashing out at her, her implicit understanding that there was more to him underneath his icy demeanor, made the Elezen's heart lurch, made his cock throb with new wanting. He twitched deep inside her, making them both gasp. He dug his hands into the ground beside her head.

“I don't--I don't want to stop, Tetri,” he said, shaking his head slightly, his voice wavering with shame and desire. “Not if you don’t. You're...as good at fucking as you are at fighting. I will admit, hearing my name on your lips isn't the worst thing in the world, even if I do hate you.” 

He watched as a smile formed on the Miqo’te’s face, a gentle smile that seemed like it had been reserved just for him. He felt that smile penetrate the emotional walls he had carefully constructed around his fragile heart, dismantling his defenses to reach the wish for love within. For what seemed like the thousandth time, Estinien bit back the urge to kiss her, to devour her lips with his own. He didn’t deserve any of this, surely--not her body, not her heart, not that smile she pointed his way, and yet, she was giving those things to him, even still. He panted with the effort it took not to take her lips with his.

“I don’t want to stop, either, Azure Dragoon,” she said. “So keep going.  _ Now! _ ” 

She rocked her hips up into him, and they both hissed at the feeling as pleasure suffused them both. 

“As you wish,” he said. 

He grinned as he looked down at her, rocking in and out of her again, slowly, building her desire up to a fever pitch, and her moans were as sweet as any melody. 

“Oh, gods,  _ Estinien! _ ” she cried out in ecstasy as his length stroked that spot inside her that made her see stars. 

“Yes, that's right, Tetri,” said Estinien with a gasp. “Call my name! Let's see how many times I can make you scream for me! By the time I'm done with you, it's the only thing you'll be able to say!” 

He continued to rock his hips into hers, faster now, enjoying the grip of her slick heat around him. He looked down at Tetri, watching her pant and moan, her fingers digging into his arms, to gain more leverage as she rocked back onto him. His helmet kept sliding over his eyes, preventing him from seeing her, and he snarled, slowing his pace to rip off the helmet in one quick motion, sending it hurtling onto the stone ground behind them. 

Estinien sighed as he was finally free of its weight, looking back down at his unexpected Miqo’te lover, his elegant silver-white hair falling around her face in waves. He paused as his gaze met hers again, her ruby eyes suddenly wide with shock, her mouth gaping open.

“What is it?” he said as he felt her tense up around him, suddenly concerned he was hurting her. Their size difference was not lost on him, as his body dwarfed her own. 

“Y-you--you’re gorgeous,” she said, stammering slightly, and Estinien watched as Tetri’s face colored in a pretty blush. He swallowed, suddenly self-conscious at her stare, feeling an echoing blush burn on his cheeks and at the tips of his ears. 

“Of course you’re utterly gorgeous, why wouldn’t you be?” she said, shaking her head with a small laugh, rolling her eyes as if she was incredibly dim to have ever assumed otherwise. 

“Alright, my  _ gorgeous _ Ser Dragoon,” she continued, grinning at him and leaning back against the stone ground beneath them, her purple and white hair spread about her face. She arched her hips into his, forcing him even deeper inside her, and they both groaned. 

“Please, Estinien, fuck me hard,” said Tetri breathlessly. “Like you  _ mean it. _ I need you even more, now!”

He laughed at her, unable to help it, and thrust into her slick folds again, hard like she asked, making her entire body jolt under his as he filled her to the hilt. The clearing rang with the lewd sounds of their joining, his balls slapping against her ass with every stroke.

“You’re a marvelous,  _ insane _ Miqo’te slut!” he managed to grate out, before leaning down and panting against her neck, unable to say anything more, licking the tang of sweat from her skin, finding the taste of her sweet, as captivating as her gaze, savoring her answering moan.

A low growl rumbled inside his chest, and Estinien found himself feeling that intense possessiveness once more, wanting to bite her,  _ claim _ her, to mark her as  _ his. _ He bit his lip until he tasted blood, fighting to restrain himself against the draconian instincts that were the unfortunate side effect of his possession of the Eye of Nidhogg. In addition to corrupting his soul, the Eye gave him the occasional urges of a dragon. It made sex a challenge, as even with willing lovers, these instincts always came to the fore of his consciousness during the act, no matter how hard he fought to restrain them.

“Yes, maybe I am,” she said, grunting as he fucked into her slick folds again and again, and she wrapped her arms around him, burying her hands in his silver locks, scratching his scalp pleasantly. 

“Maybe I’d like to be your slut, Estinien,” she said, and barked out a laugh that sounded slightly unhinged to both of them. “Would you like that?” 

“Oh, Tetri,  _ fuck,” _ he moaned, his dick throbbing inside her at her words, as the idea of owning her pleased the dragon part of him on a deep level. “Don’t say--such-- _ things _ \--if you don’t mean them…!”

He buried his face into the side of her neck, breathing her scent deeply, desperately fighting the urge to bite deep into her skin, to taste the metal tang of her blood, to make her  _ his!  _

“Oh, Estinien,  _ yes!” _ Said Tetri, moaning, yanking at his hair and rocking her hips against his faster. “Yes, that’s it, fuck your slut into the ground! I want to come around you…!” 

He snarled against her neck, nipping on her skin, biting deep enough to sting but not to break the skin, snapping his hips against her in a punishing pace. 

“You little  _ slut _ of a dragoon,” he growled out, “you damned imposter! Forget your hallowed calling--you were made to be  _ fucked _ , Warrior of Light!” 

“ _Ahhh!_ _YES!_ ” she cried, screaming, and he felt Tetri’s folds tighten around him even more, felt a rush of wetness surround him as the Elezen felt her near her peak. 

“You were made to take  _ my _ cock,  _ Ser _ Tetri!” said Estinien, pulling back to smile at her in a sneer, pressing her hard into the stone ground as he increased his pace, taking her roughly, feeling his cock brush the entrance to her womb with every stroke. 

“I’ll make sure you think of  _ me, _ ” he said with a growl. “Every time you fuck someone else, every time you come! You’ll only be able to think of  _ me, _ for the rest of your life! Your cunt is  _ mine!” _

“Yes, Estinien, yes!” she said, sobbing and groaning, writhing underneath him as the Miqo’te was fucked senseless by the Azure Dragoon, loving every moment he claimed her body with his. 

Estinien groaned, feeling himself near the edge of his release, the pleasure of her body around his too great an onslaught, her complete surrender to him too powerful a temptation to resist.

“I need to see you come,” he said, his chest heaving as he rocked into her. “Come for me, Tetri, please!”

The Miqo’te moaned weakly, looking up at him with eyes completely glazed over with lust.

“I--I can’t--” she began, then gasped, shuddering as Estinien reached between them to stroke large fingers over her clit. He felt her inner walls flutter around him in response, and knew she was getting closer to her own peak as he watched her begin to shake and gasp. 

“Yes you can,  _ Tetri, _ ” he said, fixing her with a gaze of pure want, that made Tetri feel like she could spontaneously combust with how heated his grey eyes were. He continued his erotic ministrations, stroking her from within and without, and Tetri gasped, writhing as she neared her climax. She turned her face to the side, baring her neck to him. 

“Oh-oh gods,  _ Estinien _ , yes!” she cried. “You--you can bite me, I know you want to…!”

Estinien startled at her words, biting his lip so hard he tasted blood. His dragon soul heard her words as well, and it roared, rising to the forefront of Estinien’s mind, overwhelming him. Estinien opened his mouth to warn her, but all that issued forth was a loud growl. Tetri looked up at him, a feral grin on her face.

“I know you want-- _ ah! _ \--to  _ bite _ me, to  _ claim _ me, Estinien,” she said, panting. “Go ahead--I  _ want _ it, I want to be yours…!”

“T-Tetri,” said Estinien, stuttering, bent over her body as he fucked her, every fiber of his being trembling with the effort to hold back the urges of his dragon soul, to not accept her invitation to claim her. 

“Y--y--you don’t...know what you’re...asking…!” he managed to grate out. With horror, the Elezen watched as blue flames began to rise unbidden on the surface of his skin, his dragonfire unleashing as his dragon soul flared its wings within his mind.

“Yes, yes I  _ do!” _ she said, and she opened her mouth and uttered a draconian growl of her own, and the same blue flames erupted about her body, reaching up to merge with his. A conflagration of azure flame surrounded the lovers, making the surrounding air wave with heat. 

Estinien clenched his eyes tight, even as he continued to take her body with his. He uttered a muted sob of despair, feeling tears fall down his face as his resistance to his draconic urges grew razor-thin. 

“I--I don’t want--to hurt you,” he gasped, shame and humiliation blooming in his heart even as he bared his teeth in a snarl, looking down at Tetri, smelling the tang of her blood as it rushed through her veins. 

“You won’t,” she whispered. “I’ll be fine. I’m a dragoon, just like you! I know how it feels, I understand. I--” 

Tetri clenched her eyes shut, unable to face him just then, trying to stem the tide of her own tears, a futile endeavor as she felt them fall down her cheeks. Her heart ached with yearning for the Elezen above her, inside her, surrounding her with his dragonfire, with his passion, with his terrible, prickly attitude, and the warmth of his heart that he could not hide from her, no matter the efforts he made. She gasped out a sob as she felt herself crumble beneath the tide of her longing, her longing for  _ him: _ Estinien Wyrmblood!

“I love you, Estinien,” she whispered. 

Estinien opened his mouth, and  _ roared. _

The fire surrounding him blazed with a new intensity at his monstrous cry, the flames tinged crimson with a passionate fury, as the Elezen’s dragon soul suffused his very nature! Tetri snarled along with him in an echoing cry, her dragon soul recognizing its mate, her dragon fire blazing upwards in a like manner, and then their flames merged into one, surrounding the dragoons in a rose-tinged wildfire. The flames were so hot they scorched the stones beneath their still-writhing bodies. 

Estinien uttered another snarl, glaring down at Tetri with that same fury in his eyes, his conscious mind nearly subsumed completely by his inner dragon soul. His silver-white hair drifted in tangled rivulets about his neck and shoulders, his teeth bared in a grimace, and he swiftly reached down and pinned Tetri’s arms above her head, not having slowed his hips into hers. The Miqo’te arched into the taller Elezen above her, baring her neck in offering, and she caught a glimpse of him smiling wickedly down at her before he bent down and buried his teeth into the tender spot between her neck and shoulder. 

Tetri cried out as he broke skin, and at her cry Estinien bit down further, growling in satisfaction as his mouth filled with the taste of her life’s blood. She screamed, the pain of the bite only adding to the pleasure of his length inside of her, every sense heightened in the ecstasy of Estinien claiming her utterly. The Warrior of Light felt herself teetering on the edge, and then let out a loud moan as she tumbled headlong into bliss. Estinien snarled against her as he felt her body quaking around him, and then he released her with a gasp, arching his back as he opened his mouth and let out another roar towards the heavens as he finally followed her into climax, spilling inside her. Dragonfire whirled about the entwined dragoons in an inferno before rushing upwards into the sky, slowly dissipating, leaving Estinien and Tetri shivering and gasping in each other’s arms. 

Estinien took a shaky breath, releasing Tetri’s arms from where he had pinned them above her head, and wrapped them about her shoulders instead. He took a moment to look at her, unable to keep from cringing at the open bite wound still oozing blood at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. 

“It’s alright, Estinien,” said Tetri in a soft voice, and he met her gaze as she turned to face him fully. Her ruby eyes were gentle as she gazed up at him, as if she knew how shaken he was by what he had done. The Elezen was horrified as he felt his eyes fill with tears, shame rearing its ugly head to wrap around his heart.

“I--I--Tetri, I’m s-sorry--” he stammered, “I--I  _ hurt _ you--” 

“Did you hear what I said before, Estinien?” the Miqo’te asked, in the same gentle voice she had used before. “You certainly seemed to, but allow me to repeat it, for both of our sakes.”

She reached up, brushing a strand of silver-white hair back from his face, before moving her hand downward to caress his cheek. Estinien leaned into her palm, chasing the comfort of her touch as they both descended from their mutual peak. He looked into her eyes, feeling like he could fall into them, forever, unable to look away. 

“I love you, Estinien,” she whispered once more, and Estinien watched as her own eyes filled with tears. 

“I--I don’t know when it happened, or why,” she said, her voice shaking, “and--at first, I thought it was just because of the heat fever, because I needed you to help me...but, it’s more than that. I’ve thought of you nearly every day since we met, Estinien. Feeling you with me, like this…” 

She let out a small laugh of disbelief. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she continued, and the Azure Dragoon continued to look down at her, spellbound. “I wouldn’t change anything about you, nor would I change anything about what just happened, what we’ve shared together. My feelings for you are genuine.”

“Tetri…” he rasped, turning to kiss her palm before looking back down at her. 

“Do you really mean that?” he asked, unable to keep his voice from shaking. He reached down to gently stroke the bite wound he had marked her with, and was filled with self-loathing as he heard her sharp intake of breath. 

“You should have picked someone else, Tetri,” he said bitterly, hating himself for having hurt her. Watching blood still drip from the bite he had inflicted on the Miqo’te, it seemed to Estinien in that moment that he was as much a monster as they all feared, as  _ he _ had feared from the beginning, ever since he felt the Eye pierce the walls around his heart to take hold of his soul. 

“You should have picked someone else to share your heat--” he continued, but he gasped as Tetri reached up to pinch the sensitive tip of his ear, hard, making his ear sting with pain.

“Ow--what the--Seven  _ Hells, _ let go, damnit, woman…!” he cried, jerking his head to get away from her.

“Hurts, doesn’t it, Estinien?” she said, her voice shaking with anger as she sat up on the stone ground, still dripping with sweat from their exertions. She pinched the tip of his ear one more time before letting go.

“That’s how you made me feel, just now, after hearing you say I should have picked  _ someone else _ to share my heat,” she said in a snarl, and Estinien had never seen her appear more angry. 

Her purple ears were bent back against the sides of her head, her teeth bared. 

“And what about my being in  _ love _ with you, Estinien?!” she cried. “Were you going to acknowledge that at all? Or were you just going to try and push me away again, with the same cruel words you’ve been hurling towards me this entire time?! Notice that I didn’t let you do it, Estinien!” 

She poked him in the center of his chest with a finger, and Estinien stared as the shorter Miqo’te woman stood over him, shaking with rage. 

“Maybe that tactic worked on your fellow Ishgardians, but it hasn’t worked on me,” she said, shaking her head. “Nor will it ever. You can’t shame me for being this way, Estinien. Not for being in heat, nor for asking you to share it. And certainly not for falling in love with a stubborn,  _ arrogant _ Azure Dragoon who has more passion than sense, who would rather fight me in a duel than kiss me. Who would claim to hate me and then pleasure me over and over.”

Tetri let out a breath, then, putting her arms and tail around her middle, shivering from both the cold air surrounding them and the intense emotions that left her heart reeling. 

“Tetri--ah, I’m a fool,” said Estinien, sitting up and crossing his legs, grunting as he sat up stiffly. He reached out his arms towards her.

“Come here, Tetri,” he said, rolling his eyes as she eyed him warily, her ears twitching. 

“You’ve made your point, sweet little dragoon,” he said with a small chuckle, grinning at her. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a right arse to you this entire time, though evidently I haven’t left you wanting, at least in regards to your heat. Please, come here and let me warm you up.” 

Tetri was unable to keep an echoing smile off her face, and despite her anger at him, she clambered into his arms, and he wrapped himself around her as she settled in his lap, held snugly against his torso. The Elezen stroked her back, quickly warming her from the chill, and she sighed as she snuggled further into his chest, basking in his warmth. He pressed a kiss against the top of her forehead, hiding a smile as he felt her tail wrap about his waist and stroke down his bare back.

“How do you live here year-round, and not freeze?” she grumbled against him. “I feel like a godsdamned icicle.”

“I suppose it’s in my blood,” he said. “The blood of the dragon also appears to help me not feel the cold as much.” 

“Mmmh,” said Tetri unintelligibly, her face pressed against his chest, and mumbled something against his skin that very much sounded to Estinien like “ _ stupid, sexy Elezens _ .” 

Estinien barked out a laugh at that, unable to help it, and reached down to tilt her chin up towards him. The two Azure Dragoons stared at each other, grey eyes meeting ruby, and Estinien sighed, leaning closer to Tetri until he could feel her breath on his lips. 

“I don’t know how to--how to  _ do _ this, Tetri,” he said in a whisper. “I’ve been alone for so long, so angry and alone, with naught but my rage and my spear for company, that I fear I will inevitably disappoint you. You and I have no business being together.”

“I don’t care!” she replied, her ruby eyes gleaming with determination. She reached up to cup his cheek once more, stroking his face with her thumb. “I know the difference between lust and love, Estinien. I wouldn’t have told you I loved you, if I wasn’t sure. And yes, I do understand we both have our duty, but even still, I would ask that you please be willing to try. Please try to be with me!” 

She blinked at him, before looking away, her eyes clouding over with unshed tears.

“That--that is, unless I read you completely wrong,” she said in whisper, and the Miqo’te was suddenly overcome with self-loathing of her own, now wondering if she had indeed guessed wrong on the Elezen’s hidden feelings towards her. Estinien snarled under his breath. 

“Tetri, right now, little dragoon, you’re being as foolish as me,” he said, grasping her chin firmly and tilting her face back towards his. “Allow me to divest such an erroneous notion forever from your mind.”

He leaned down, then, and finally pressed his lips against hers. Tetri moaned against him, feeling herself melt into the kiss, and parted her lips as Estinien stroked his tongue against her mouth, begging for entry, and then they were twining together, unwilling to part even to gasp for breath. Estinien’s lips were warm, warmer than she would have expected for a man who lived outside in the cold full time, and Tetri felt herself wine-drunk with love’s new splendor as she kissed him back with a fervor, running her hands across his cheeks before stroking his long ears. Estinien groaned into her mouth as her touch on his ears seared him, pulling back to gasp. 

“Seven Hells, Tetri,” he said, panting harshly against her lips. “You would make me an addict of you!” 

He ran a large hand over her ears, stroking their tips lightly, enjoying her ensuing shudder against him, how her nipples hardened from the stimulation. He smirked down at her as he ran his other hand down her back to stroke lightly against the base of her tail at the low of her back. 

“ _ Ahhh _ \--Estinien!” she said with a gasp as his fingers closed lightly around her sensitive tail. 

“Your fur is so soft,” he whispered, “just as I imagined it would be.”

“Y-you’re too late, Estinien,” she said, her voice shaking as he continued to stroke her tail with a gentle touch. “I was already addicted to you, since you first clashed your spear with mine!” 

“Then allow me to indulge you your craving, Warrior of Light,” he rasped, and crushed her to him as he took her lips again in a searing kiss. The Miqo’te and Elezen lost themselves in each other, kissing one another as if their very lives depended on it. Finally, they pulled away, once again gasping for air, their cheeks flushed. Tetri smiled sheepishly at him and stroked his cheek once more, as if abashed at her passionate need for him. She felt the twinge of echoing desire running in her body, her heat fever not yet complete, but she wouldn’t be feeling its effects for a while longer. It would be long enough to talk more, at least. She looked down, long ears twitching with anxiety, looking away from Estinien, who took her chin gently in his hand and moved her face to his. 

“What is it?” he asked softly. 

“I--I am not without my own fears or faults, Estinien,” she said with a sigh. “Not in regards to love, nor anything else, but perhaps most especially with love.”

“Then that makes a pair of us,” he said with a snort of laughter. “Surely you and I can weather the storm of the heart, for all that we are daring to even try at all. You were the one who so valiantly convinced me just now of the matter, after all.”

“I’m not perfect, Estinien,” she said. “If I hadn’t felt as strongly about you as I do, I may have held in my feelings for you forever. I’ve been in love with others, before, and...and I never told them I loved them, and then they were gone forever, and I never got another chance.”

Tetri's heart lurched as she remembered G'raha T'ia, the gentle Miqo'te scholar she had journeyed with at St. Coinach's a year prior, who had disappeared into the tower before she could confess her feelings to him. She looked down at the stone ground, away from the Elezen who was now holding her so gently in his arms, a contrast to the previous roughness with which he had handled her body. The Miqo’te then looked up into Estinien’s soft grey eyes, and she stroked his cheek again.

“I couldn’t let that happen again,” she said softly, “not with you. Though the fear of losing yet another person I love grips my heart.”

Estinien could see her ruby eyes were filled with remembered pain. He knew such pain well, after growing up an orphan, having lost his entire family in the destruction of Ferndale. 

“So what else would you do?” he replied in a gravelly voice, just as softly. “Would you let your heart grow cold to love entirely, instead?”

“That seemed to have been working well for you, so far,” she said, looking up at him with an annoyed glare, her ruby eyes whirling with anger as she remembered how he had tried to push her away numerous times, with his cruel words and slights.

“Tch,” said Estinien in a huff, grinning at her as she directed the heat of her ire towards him. She certainly had a dragon's soul in her now, with how hot her rage burned! 

“That's a low blow, Warrior of Light,” he said. “You have no idea how I feel.”

“And likewise, you don't know how I feel, either,” she replied in a snarl. “So don't pretend that you know exactly what I feel!”

“Oh, don't I, though?” he asked, his grey eyes narrowing at her.

“We are both dragoons,” he continued, “both  _ Azure Dragoons, _ something that's never happened in the past thousand years of Ishgardian history. We are both burdened with a power beyond the ordinary: you with your Echo, and I, with the Eye of Nidhogg. We've both lost nearly everyone we love, we're both outcasts of our respective kingdoms. Need I go on?”

“What's your point,  _ Ser?” _ she replied.

“My point,  _ Warrior of Light, _ is that I am the best person qualified to know your heart,” he replied. “No one else could possibly understand what you're going through like I can. Heat or no, blessed by the Crystal or no, you and I were always going to be drawn together.”

She laughed in derision.

“So are you a student of prophecy, now,  _ Ser _ Estinien?” she said. “Perhaps you should have become an Astrologian in your youth, instead of picking up the lance.”

“It's not a prophecy, it's fact,” he said, growling low in his chest, and Estinien wrapped his arms around the Miqo'te, pulling her smaller body against his as his desire for her grew once more. He watched Tetri blush as his hardness was trapped between them, pressing insistently against her stomach and between her breasts.

“Tell me you feel nothing for me,” he whispered, pulling her towards him until he was whispering against her lips, and Tetri cursed inwardly as she began to tremble with longing for him.

“Tell me you feel nothing between us, and I will let you go,” he continued, stroking a hand down her back, teasing the base of her tail. 

Tetri bit her lip until she tasted blood, choking back a moan. The heat fever was rising in her again, making her cleft ache with the pleasure he was coaxing out of her, just with his touch alone. She wanted Estinien again, wanted to feel the heat of him inside her, surrounding her.

“I--I can't do that,” she replied in a breathless whisper against his lips, and he raised a hand to stroke her cheek.

“And why is that, Ser Tetri?” he asked, now panting with the effort to hold himself back from claiming her body again.

“Godsdamn you, Estinien!” she said, uttering a growl of her own, and closed the distance between them to take his lips with hers. He uttered a loud growl, moaning into her mouth, pressing her lips open with his tongue, swallowing her breath as he crushed her to him.

She gasped against his lips, running her hands through his long silver-white hair before dragging her fingertips lightly over his pointed ears. Estinien uttered a loud groan, deepening their kiss further, his hands drifting down to grasp her ass and pull her astride him, grinding against her center.

"I--I thought that-- _ ahhh! _ \--that you h-hated me," said Tetri breathlessly as she finally managed to tear herself away from his lips, gasping for air. Estinien wasted no time, yanking her head back by her hair and dragging his teeth along her neck, making her pant and groan into the icy air.

“I thought I did, too,” he said, peppering her neck with kisses, rocking his hips against hers, sending sparks of pleasure through them both.

Finally he pulled away, just enough to look at her, giving her a hooded look of longing. Tetri looked back at Estinien, finding the unguarded, vulnerable look on him slightly disorienting.

“I wanted to hate you, Tetri,” he said softly, stroking her back lightly with one hand while his other hand teased the base of her tail over her lower back.

“But then--you reached for me,” he continued, and suddenly he was grimacing as he blinked back tears. Tetri's heart lurched again, but this time it was for the Elezen before her.

“It's been so long since anyone has reached out to me,” he said, “so long since anyone reached for me after I tried pushing them away. I insulted you, I mocked you, I used your body to slate my lust, and you just--just clung to me tighter!”

He looked away from her, gasping as he tried to hold back a sudden sob, his face flushing with shame.

“I  _ bit _ you,” he said, sobbing again. “I drew blood and marked you as mine, like a dragon would its mate! Any Ishgardian, any Elezen, would call me cursed, a  _ monster _ , fated to be taken over by this darkness in me, the darkness of the Eye that's been my curse for my entire life! But--Tetri, you didn't, you kissed me instead, you held me in your arms! How can I hate the only person who sees me as a man and not a monster incarnate?”

“Estinien, look at me,” said Tetri softly, cupping his cheek and turning the Elezen to face her. He did so, unable to look away from the strange, dangerous Miqo'te warrior before him. He felt pinned by her eyes, pinned by the love and concern he saw for himself there.

“You're not a monster, no more than I,” she said softly, wiping his tears away gently with her fingers. “You're a brave warrior who wields a power no one else was willing to, so that you could protect your homeland, your kingdom. You've suffered so much loss, lost so many people you loved. I understand, now, Estinien, that we do indeed share that same pain between us. But we also share hope.”

Tetri dragged her thumb over his lips, smiling as he kissed her there.

“I believe in you,” she said, “and I believe in the powers we wield. Not just as dragoons, but as people who care for our world. For those we can yet save, Estinien, let us move forward, and be Azure Dragoons that fight for peace.”

He laughed softly.

“The Dravanian Horde may have different ideas of what they desire for the world,” he replied wryly. “I can say for certain that Nidhogg and his brood care not for peace with Ishgard. Nor do the Pope and his Knights Most Heavenly with them. It is a war you are walking into, Warrior of Light, whether armed with the lance or any other weapon.”

“Then let me arm my heart with hope,” said Tetri, and her eyes gleamed with another fire, the fire of the spirit that was the Warrior of Light!

“And when I wield my lance aloft,” she continued, her voice ringing clear amongst the snows around them, “it will be with the dream of hope, and the wish of peace! By the Crystal Mother, I will work to see this dream fulfilled, for Ishgard  _ and _ the Dravanians!”

He smiled at her, unable to continue frowning as her passionate words inspired even his previously frigid heart. He wrapped his arms tighter around her, rocking into her, enjoying her sigh against him as she arched into his body.

“Who am I to argue with such impassioned, noble speeches?” he said. “My need for you is all the stronger, now, sweet little dragoon!” 

He pulled her close, claiming her lips in a bruising kiss, and Tetri returned his kiss with equal fervor. She pushed him down onto his back, and he hissed into her mouth as the cold stone hit his bare skin. The smaller Miqo’te woman writhed on top of him, stroking her hands across his chest, and Estinien gasped against her lips as she tweaked his nipples gently with her fingers. Finally she tore her lips away from his, pinning him with her ruby eyes as she stared down at him, and Estinien could see her slitted pupils were nearly fully dilated, shimmering with lust. 

“I--Estinien, I need you,” she said in a shaky voice. “The fever--it’s burning me, again--” 

He took her hand and kissed her palm, then relaxed his body against the ground beneath them.

“Then have me, Tetri,” he said. “I’m yours.” 

Tetri leaned down and took his lips in a messy, uncoordinated kiss, their teeth clacking together in her haste, before she tore herself away from his mouth again somewhat reluctantly. The Miqo’te moved down his body until she was hovering above his now rock-hard cock, and grinned wickedly as she rocked her wet folds against his length, savoring his ensuing cry into the chill air. The Warrior of Light continued to tease him in this fashion, almost taking him inside her before pulling away, keeping the Azure Dragoon on a razor’s edge of desire, until Estinien could feel his whole body shake with the need to be inside her. 

“Tetri, please,” he said in a whisper, no longer afraid to beg her, and she nodded once before sinking down onto his cock, dragging a moan out of both of them as he filled her to the hilt. 

She sat astride him, trembling like a leaf, her eyes closed, ears twitching, her eyebrows drawn together, screwed tight with pleasure, as if the heat of his length inside her had shocked her to the core. Estinien managed a strangled gasp as she rose and fell once more onto his cock, realizing he had forgotten to breathe. He raised his now bare hands to her breasts, happy to have exchanged his gauntlets for the cold air, since it meant he could now touch her safely. Her breasts fit his palms as if they were meant to be there, and he stroked his thumbs across her nipples, savoring the way she gasped his name. 

No one had cried out his name like she did, not the courtesans who attended him infrequently, nor had Aymeric long ago in the barracks, who had been content to whisper affirmative pleas and gasps without once using either of their names, the scandal of their couplings incentive enough to stay quiet. The Warrior of Light sighed his name like a truth previously untold, like a history yet to be written, as if he was a god or a hero, instead of a bitter dragoon who had become an orphan by a dragon’s rage, who had inherited that same rage through his possession of the Eye. She cried out his name like he was cherished, like he could be more than who he was, like he still had a heart, like he deserved absolution. 

Most Ishgardian women didn’t allow themselves such displays of uninhibited passion with a partner, but the Warrior of Light was not Ishgardian, nor was she Elezen. Tetri held no such compunctions for Ishgardian laws or custom, content to remain ignorant of the uptight morals of the country in which she was now stranded. He had a feeling that even if he enlightened her on them, she would ignore them still, out of scorn and principle for favoring her seemingly more open-minded Miqo’te sensibilities--at least in regards to sex, that is. 

Estinien hid a smile as he groped her breasts, as he ran his hands over her belly, her back, her sides, as he stroked her tail, enjoying the absolute lack of inhibition on the Miqo’te woman’s face as she rode him steadily and surely towards her peak. They were sweating, flushed and panting, her tail was writhing behind her, his cock was strangled inside her slick heat, and all Estinien could think was that he was doing what he swore he would not do, not with the Warrior of Light or anyone else: 

He was falling in love.

Estinien whispered her name, and Tetri opened her eyes, bracing her hands on his chest as she locked her gaze with his. They rocked together, sighing, breathing each other’s breath, hands caressing each other, and Estinien felt himself yield to her, wanting to give her his heart like she was taking his body, wanting her passion to enfold him like she had wrapped her legs around his hips. He hated how much he loved making love to the Warrior of Light, hated how Tetri had corrupted him with her sighs, how she had entranced him with the heat of her body around his, how he could not resist her. 

“Estinien,” she said, staring down at him, wonder in her eyes, and his name on her lips was too much for him to take. 

He growled, part need, part desperation, and reached up to close his hand around her lavender and ivory locks, yanking her down to claim her lips with his. They groaned into each others’ mouths, and she bit his lower lip, dragging a hiss out of him as she broke beneath his skin. He bit her top lip in revenge, making her snarl in response, and she dragged her nails down his bare chest, just gentle enough not to draw blood. The dragoons nipped and bit at each other, their kiss having become a duel between them as they writhed together, intertwined. No longer quite mortal, not nearly quite dragon, but an amalgam, an unholy merging of dragon fire trapped in flesh, their dragon souls roaring as they clashed and claimed each other, in soul and body both. 

Estinien realized then that he could never have resisted her, just like he could never resist falling back to earth after jumping into the skies on currents of dragon fire. The Warrior of Light was a force of nature rediscovered, his need for her a hidden motion named into existence, his love for her a lost gravity pulling him into her body, pulling his heart into hers, his lips against her own. Estinien hated that he was falling in love, but now that he had Tetri in his arms, he could not bring himself to pull away for even an onze of a moment. To relinquish his grasp on her was unthinkable, just as to relinquish his grasp on the Eye of Nidhogg was unthinkable. Nidhogg had claimed his soul; Tetri had in turn claimed his heart, and by the Twelve, perhaps her love would save him from the wyrm’s own wrath. 

He rocked his hips into hers, leaning up and taking her lips in another bruising kiss, and the two dragoons writhed against each other as they made love in a heat-induced frenzy. Tetri soon reached her peak, too tightly wound to hang on for longer, crying out into his mouth as she shuddered around him, and Estinien followed her soon after, growling against her shoulder as he spilled inside her. He fell backwards, all the breath leaving his body as he panted for breath, and Tetri lay sprawled on top of him, limbs askew as she, too, attempted to recover from their latest frenetic lovemaking. 

Estinien blinked up at the sky, noticing the clouds were turning a dull red; more time had passed than he had expected, and soon it would be nightfall in Coerthas, and the temperature would drop even further about them. His dragon’s blood having cooled from their shared exertions, Estinien stroked Tetri’s back as she hummed and nuzzled against his chest, her ears twitching right beneath his chin.

Estinien cleared his throat.

“Tetri, I have a camp, a few malms south of here,” he said. “A tent in the woods, against some rocks to ward off most of the wind chill. I--I’d like you to come with me. Spend these next few nights with me.” 

Tetri looked up at him, her face flushed, and she smiled, her ears now twitching with mirth.

“Do you mean it?” she asked softly, as if she could not believe what he was saying. Estinien felt himself smile broadly, the sensation foreign on his face but not unwelcome, and he was sure he could not keep from smiling even if he tried. 

“I do,” he said, “utterly and completely. And, even if you didn’t have a heat to ride out--I’d still want you to be with me, right at my side.” 

“Estinien--” said Tetri, her eyes shimmering, and Estinien blinked back tears of his own. 

“I love you too,” he said, so quietly he thought his words would disappear upon the snowy hills about them, and Tetri reached up to take his lips in a kiss that quickly turned heated.

“We better go to that tent, now,” she said against his mouth, “otherwise I will have you again, right here on the ground, and I have a feeling your bedroll will be a good deal warmer than this place.”

“Agreed,” he said, and released her lips reluctantly to stand, pulling her up along with him. 

They dressed with haste, and Estinien helped Tetri refasten her cuirass before fastening his own. Clad in their armor once more, they both reached for their spears at the same time, affixing the weapons to their backs, and smiled at each other as they both took the other in. 

“Lead the way, Azure Dragoon,” said Tetri, and Estinien smiled from beneath his helmet. He reached out and took her gauntleted hand in his. 

“This way,” he said. “Come on, run with me!” 

The dragoons raced together, running at full speed towards the edge of the woods as the Stone Vigil gave way to the hills beyond. 

“Now!” said Estinien, grasping her hand, and Tetri nodded. The dragoons both uttered a draconian roar, summoning forth their dragons’ blood, cerulean flames surrounding them, and launched themselves up into the air with a mighty jump, soaring into the skies beyond! The wooded hills and endless snows of Coerthas fell away as the Elezen and Miqo’te leapt into the air, coasting on currents of dragonfire carrying them through the air. Estinien turned to Tetri, her hand clasped tightly in his, and grinned at the smile of utter rapture on her face.

There was surely no greater freedom to a dragoon than leaping into an open sky--and no greater freedom to the heart than to love, and be loved in return!

At the thought, Estinien summoned more currents of dragonfire to swirl about him, carrying him even higher into the sky, and he pulled the Miqo’te against him, taking her lips with his once more as they drifted above the world.

There would surely be time enough to fall back to earth, to let the pull of their duty to the world ground them once more.

For now, Estinien and Tetri, the Azure Dragoons of Ishgard and Eorzea, a pair of lovers chosen by fate for both tragedy and greatness, thus claimed their refuge in the lost gravity of love, soaring on the wings of hope…

...And rising ever heavensward!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Feedback is love.
> 
> Do you like Estinien, Emet-Selch, and other characters in Final Fantasy XIV? Are you a FFXIV fanfic writer and/or reader? Then join us for related merriment in the Bookclub! https://discord.gg/TD8zYvx


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